


Four seasons, one Naruto (FSON)

by fromseoul2tokyo



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, First Time, Fluff and Humor, Kinda Slow Build, Life after the war, M/M, NaruSasu - Freeform, Naruto plays the guitar at a certain point, Naruto's road to Hokage, Ocasionally Naruto's POV, Poetic sometimes, PostWar, Romance, Sappy NaruSasu, Sasuke's POV, Sasuke's road to Naruto, canonverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2019-01-12
Packaged: 2019-08-21 15:56:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 55,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16579631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fromseoul2tokyo/pseuds/fromseoul2tokyo
Summary: Sasuke returns to Konoha from his redemption journey after 3 years and a half. Although he still doesn't see Konoha as his home, he knows there is someone in that village who is waiting for him. Morevover, he doesn't have a place to stay, so he ends up in Naruto's apartment.As seasons change, Sasuke finds the courage to explore his feelings for his past, his friends, his village, his brother, but most important - his feelings for Naruto.





	1. That autumn night when the wind blew

**Author's Note:**

> There are a few things you need to know before you start reading this fanfiction:  
> 1\. This is a NaruSasu fanfiction which means basically gay stuff. If you are not into this kinda stuff, don't read.  
> 2\. This is my first fanfiction, so please, have mercy.  
> 3\. English is not my native language, so if there are things that sound unnatural (or there are grammar mistakes) please (also) have mercy.  
> 4\. Obviously, I don't own the Naruto franchise/characters/etc.  
> 5\. If you read and you like it, please leave comments/feedback/kudos etc. It'll mean a lot to me :D  
> 6\. Updates - weekly. I started on Saturday, so probably Saturday will be the update day :D  
> 7\. Enjoy! ^_^

    I looked up at the night sky. The moon was full, its light grey and frozen on the path that led to the village. The gravel was making my steps louder than I wished, but my presence could be noticed now. I was coming home. Or I was telling myself I was coming home. Home is usually a place were something or someone is waiting. I was not sure if someone indeed was dying to see me or if I could call Konoha home. If Konoha was my home, then why did I have 0 feelings for this place? In my mind it was a place like others that I spent time in. Like Orochimaru’s hideouts that I switched so many times in the years I stayed with him. Or like this path that was leading to Konoha’s gates. Places that were just temporary to me. Places that hold my steps for a definite moment. Temporary spaces that you discard from your memory when it’s over.

  
    When I arrived in front of the gates the guards looked at me and just nodded, letting me in. _Really? No second check up? What if this was a Henge? Tsch…_  
“I bet you just thought we are pretty stupid, isn’t it?” Kakashi’s voice said, from above. He was up on one of the gates. He jumped in front of me, his grey hair looking silver in the moonlight.

    “Glad to see you home.”

  
_That home again, huh?_

  
    “Do you have a place to spend the night?” he asked, his eyes looking for something else on my face, like he always did since the end of the war. Signs that I wanted to run away again? Signs of revenge, perhaps? Signs of what, what else could make my sensei, whom I have known since I was 12 so eager to scan my face everytime we talked? The sensei who also knew my brother. The sensei who spent time with…

  
    “No, but I’ll find something..”

    He nooded and I kept on walking, past the bench that was rebuilt, past the restaurants and shops that were newly opened and past some other places that I didn’t recognize at all, probably built in these 3 years and a half I was away. A cold wind blew through the leaves and made my only hand freeze. It ruffled my hair and my coat, but it was kind of refreshing. A dog was barking somewhere, its sounds piercing and scraping the silence of the autumn night. I turned and stopped in front of a building that was looking pretty much familiar. One I used to know. One with a balcony and a metal balustrade that looked like a freaking platform for birds take-off. The platform was not there anymore, just the balcony, so I figured this was his house.

  
    I rummaged in my back pocket for the tiny piece of paper on which, with a fucking chicken scratch (that made your eyes freaking bleed when you were trying to read it) the idiot wrote his address. Yep, this was it. _Now, why the hell did I come to his house from all the places I could go to, first minutes I came to Konoha?! Fuck if I know._ When I thought I have answers for everything, I still couldn’t figure out why I was pulled towards Naruto with such a force that my damn brain couldn’t say no. It isn’t like I haven’t tried to resist him. For almost 3 years I tried, but every time I withstanded him he came back, two times more powerful than before. It is not like I haven’t figured out he was, is and will forever be my best friend. It’s not that. It’s just I still wonder sometimes what power does Naruto has? What does he do to gain such power over people? Put me in one room and everyone is looking at me like I am a freaking plague on two legs. Put Naruto in one room and everyone will suddenly have hearts in their eyes. Damn!

  
    I was in front of his door. _Well, fuck me again if I know how I got here._

  
    I knocked a few times. Silence. The idiot was probably sleeping and I should have brought a Bijuu bomb to wake him up. _If I pull out a Susanoo I wonder if he will wake up and open the damn door so I can get some sleep…_  
    I heard some strange sounds, a fuck, my leg and then the door opened, presenting a disheveled Naruto, with his blonde (now shorter) hair a mess, his obnoxious orange T-shirt all a wrinkle and his pajama pants laying loose on his hips. My brain did that thing again that he does when it stops functioning. It doesn’t happen very often, only when I am on the verge of death or I experience deathly pain, but it does. And now the fucker stopped again…

  
    Naruto stared at me for a second, probably trying to figure out why my face is familiar to him, then his blue eyes widened. I could only hear a gasp and a whispered “Sasuke” before he pulled me in a hug. He was warm and he smelled like something that was known and strange for me in the same time. I freed my arm from his embrace and patted him on the back. _The idiot needed to get away from me before I changed my mind about “uh let’s be friends again and maintain peace and change the freaking world and hug like two damn idiots in the middle of the night”._

    He took a step back to look at me better: “ You came earlier”.

  
    ‘Yeah..” _I don’t know why, so don’t ask._

    He was looking at me dumbfounded, so I rolled my eyes, my voice sounding harsher than I intended:

    “Will you let me in now or what?”

  
    He winced a little, scraped his nape and laughed:

    “Oh, sorry. I must still be sleepy.”

  
    He let me in. I discarded my sandals and he took my coat. His new apartment was similar to the old one, maybe a bit bigger. From the hallway you entered in the kitchen and then there was another little hallway which led to his bedroom. However, there was a door on the right – _a bathroom maybe? Or a living room?_ That was different than the house he had when we were kids. At least one of us got his house back. My apartment and the Uchiha compound were distroyed in Pain’s attack and nobody bothered to rebuild any of them, because the only Uchiha left was back then a traitor. Probably I still was one for some of the villagers. _I. don’t. give. A shit._

  
    The apartment was warm and smelled like miso ramen.

  
    “You probably need a shower, right?” Naruto was watching me carefully.

    
    “Yeah, if you don’t mind.”

  
    He smiled and shake his head: “Not at all.”

    He walked into the bedroom and I followed him. To the left there was a door that led to the bathroom. _So what was that room earlier? A living room?_ His bedroom was pretty similar with the old one, just a little big bigger. The bed near a big window. A nightstand to the right and a big Uzumaki symbol poster on the wall at the head of the bed. I looked around, near the window a bookshelf. _A bookshelf?! What he fuck? Does he..you know…read?_ I scanned the titles while Naruto was rummaging through his clothes drawers, looking for something. No incriminatory title like “Itcha itcha Paradise” or some shit. “ _History of The Land of Fire_ ”, “ _Contemporary Diplomacy_ ”, “ _Ramen at home recepies”..??? What the actual fuck has this guy been doing in the last three years?? Where is the Hokage thing?_  
Unmindful of my shock Naruto pulled another obnoxious orange T-shirt with a huge “Uzumaki!!” text on its front and a pair of grey shorts. He handed them to me along with two towels.

  
    “ I figured you don’t have clothes and you might want to change those..” he said.

  
    His clothes. He gave me his clothes. His T-shirt. His shorts. I kept them in my only hand, feeling the loose material of the T-shirt.

  
    He also looked careless of my dumfounded state and he pointed the bathroom door:

    “The bath is over there. You can use anything, and in the drawer is a second tooth brush.”

    I looked at his right arm, the one he lost in our last fight. It was a prosthetic, made from Hashirama’s cells. Naruto wanted me to have one too, for my left arm and he kept asking me to stay a little bit longer to get that before I left, but I refused. I didn’t wanted a new arm. Not after everything I did. I could accept him as a friend and everything, but not his full forgiveness. I knew he would have given me all, but I didn’t wanted. I didn’t deserve that.  
I mumbled a “thanks” and went straight to the bathroom.

  
***

  
    The bathroom had blue tiles all over, a sink with a drawer and a mirror to the left, the toilet to the right and the bathtub in front. On a shelf near the tub there were a lot of products, from shampoo to shower gel and other stuff, all in orange container with orange fragrance… _Figures…at least it isn’t ramen flavoured._ I discarded my clothes in the laundry basket (they needed to be washed ASAP) and took my time with the shower. When I came out of the bathroom, towel on my shoulder to dry my hair Naruto was already sleeping on the right side of the bed, the one closer to the window.

  
    “Oi, idiot where do I sleep?”

  
    He opened one eye and with a lopsided smile and a husky voice answered:

  
    “Where people usually sleep, Sasuke? We’ll have to share the bed. My couch is not done yet.”

  
    He turned to the other side leaving me mortified in the middle of the room. _Share..the bed. As in I had to get there near Naruto. Fuck me if I know what the hell I’m doing lately._

  
    I waited for my hair to be completely dry, turned the lights off and got in bed on the side that was left empty. The bed was really comfy, but it took me some time to fall asleep, despite the drousy state of my brain. Naruto was sleeping soundly, on his belly, face towards me. I took notice of his shorter hair again. _Guess he actually had a buzzcut or something and now it grew a little bit. Wish he had kept his longer hair. Wait..WHAT?_

  
    His breaths were even, their constant sound making me fall asleep. I forgot that I just wish he had kept his hair longer.

  
    It was a night with no dreams and no nightmares. I hadn’t slept like that for a long time. When I woke up in the morning the sun was shining lazily through the window, throwing a warm light over the rooftops in Konoha. Someone was nuzzling his nose in the crook of my neck… _Shit!Shit! Shit!_ I figured that person was Naruto and he was still asleep. I felt a sudden urge to get up and run away, but I didn’t want to wake him up. The idiot would have made a whole theory about this rather embarrassing situation. I realized it was probably partly my fault (as always) because I wasn’t standing in my side of the bed anymore. Somehow during the night I moved in the middle and so did Naruto. His breaths were even, just like the night before and his hair smelled like oranges. My hair smelled like that too. _I smelled entirely like Naruto._ He moved a bit and I took the opportunity to roll on my side of the bed. I waited a bit, hoping he will wake up, but the idiot started to snore. I grunted and jumped out of the bed and went to the bathroom to brush my teeth. When I came back we was standing in the middle of the bed, scratching his nape again. A huge grin appeared on his face when he saw me:

  
    “Mornin’”

  
    “Idiot” I grunted.

  
    “Idiot? Why?” he asked with a mischevious look in his blue eyes.

  
    “Because I said so” I retorted.

  
    “What are you? Five?” he said pouting a bit.

  
    I rolled my eyes:

  
    “Do you have food?”

  
    “Oh shit, no. I eat crap to survive. Do you want some?” he grinned.

  
    “That is why I said you are an idiot.”

  
    He jumped out of the bed and walked to the kitchen. I followed. He opened drawers and the fridge. Milk. Cereals. Toast. Coffee. Boiled eggs. He was moving fluidly, preparing breakfast. I was dumbfounded again. _Is this the boy that used to ate ramen 24/7?_ Like how did he got so…so.. I couldn’t even pin point the exact impression I had about him. When breakfast was ready he told me to sit down at the table and eat. The boiled eggs, coffee and a tomato filled with cheese was for me. The cereals and milk for him.

  
    “No ramen?” I asked ironically.

  
    He laughed: “No ramen. Grandma Tsunade and Sakura would castrate me if I eat that thing for breakfast.” He filled his mouth with cereals and after a few chews added:

  
    “After I got this” and he pointed his prosthetic “there was a huge list of shit I was not allowed to eat. Then I had to train and then Grandma Tsunade said they will allow me to live on my own if I take care of myself. Which meant I had to learn to cook healthy food or decent food at least.”

  
    That explained the “Ramen at home recepies”. But it didn’t explain the clean house, clean clothes and manners. Naruto was someone who would wear the same underwear for 5 days in a row with no shower. And now his clothes smelled like soap, his house was clean and he was washing dishes after breakfast, including mine. _Was I away for more than 3 years and a half?_ He saw me staring again.

    “What?” he asked sounding a little annoyed.

  
    “Do you have stuff to do today?”

  
    “Well” he paused for a second as if he was trying to remember what he has to do “we have to go to Kakashi so you can report. Then I have to go to the Academy.”

  
    I rised an eyebrow. He noticed and explained:

    “I need to learn a tone of boring shit to become Hokage. Iruka sensei had been teaching me stuff since you left.”

  
    He walked to the bedroom again and opened other drawers. There was something about the movement that made me stare. I saw Naruto sleeping, crying, laughing, embarrassed, annoyed, angry, hurt, happy, hopeless, infatuated, rude. I even kissed the guy and saw him took a piss. _Yeah. I hate my life._ But I don’t think I have ever seen him opening drawers. He would bend a bit, his upper arm muscles contracting as he opened them. I was something so natural, yet so weird for me. This is the guy I used to hate. Damn, I even tried to kill him a few times and now I was standing in his apartment, watching him opening drawers as if he was some sort of work of art. _Holy shit. They said I lost my mind when I wanted to become Hokage. Scratch that, you fuckers. This is me losing my mind in all my glory. I am fascinated by an idiot opening drawers._

  
    He threw me some pants as he had for his uniform, except they were black and not orange (Thanks God!). and a black hoodie. He shrugged his shoulders, seeing my surprise:

  
    “I don’t do laundry today and you don’t have clothes. I guess meeting Kakashi sensei in pajama pants is not an option.”

  
    “Thanks” I mumbled and went to the bathroom again to change. When I was back Naruto was closing his sandals at the door, full uniform and head protector on. I looked in my pocket’s coat for some things and nodded him we were ready to go. He closed the door of the apartment and put the key in the back pocket of his orange pants.

  
***

  
    The walk to the Hokage’s office was quite uncomfortable to me. People would stop in the middle of their chores to greet Naruto and ask him about this and that. He would point at me saying “Sasuke is back” and smile widely at them. The reaction would be different. Some greeted me too, some just nodded. And some would give me a weird look which would make my skin crawl. I tried not to retort with a “the fuck you’re looking at”.

  
    “Just ignore them. They don’t hate you. They just don’t know you” Naruto said after I sighed a little bit too loud.

    I watched his face. His eyes hid a warm light when he was speaking. It was kinda soothing. When we were one block away from the Hokage’s office we met the Hyuga girl and the Inuzuka clan’s big mouth aka Kiba. Oh and the pup, of course..

  
    “Haaaa, Naruto, my man. How are you?” the big mouth said with a grin.

  
    “Fine. I’m going to Kakashi sensei” Naruto said.

  
    “Mission again?”

  
    “No, just..Sasuke needs to report”.

  
    That’s when the guy actually noticed I was there. His eyes scanned me from head to toe before his mouth spitted, with an amused tone:

  
    “Nice outfit.”

  
_This guy has a death wish, I swear to God!_    He kept grinning at me, seeing that my look probably turned into something feral. _Motherfu-_

  
    “Hey Hinata you cut your hair. You look good.” Naruto said, smiling at her.

  
    She blushed and fidgeted before answering with a whispered “T-t-thanks”. Indeed she was looking good with a long –up-to-shoulder bob. She was thinner and taller than I remembered.

  
    “G-glad to see you again Sasuke-kun” she said smiling at me, although she was blushing again.

  
    “Yeah” I sighted “nice to see you too”.

  
    The dog boy took her hand and whispered a “come on, let’s go”, thing that made her blushed furiously and squeak a bit. Or that’s what I thought I heard, because I was a little surprised. Wasn’t this the girl that Sakura said was mumbling “N-N-Naruto-kun” everytime she met him? Wasn’t some sort of bonding between them when her cousin died? Did Naruto changed his mind? She changed her mind? _Wait..why the fuck am I interested in that?!_

  
    They walked away and Naruto waved at them. Then we headed to the office.

    The Hokage building looked the same to me: a big circular three level red thing with the symbol for “Fire” in the middle and the Hokage stone behind. One day Naruto will probably stay at the top of it waving at villagers, while someone would declare he is the new Hokage. And his dream will be fulfilled. And then? Will he ever stop dreaming? Will he ever stop moving forward? I know Itachi never did. He kept on walking further and further, even in death. And I kept watching his back. As I watched Naruto’s back. As I was watching him now, walking on the hallways that led to a place which will belong to him in the future. _Where will I be then?_

    He entered without knocking. Kakashi had a big pile of papers in front of him. He lifted his eye and smiled. _As much as you could guess a guy with mask is smiling at you. He could be completely disgusted by your presence and because of that damn mask you wouldn’t even notice. Tsch…_

  
    “Yo! You’re late” he said.

  
    Naruto shrugged: “I overslept”.

  
    “Will you oversleep as a Hokage too?” retorted.

  
    “Give me a break, Kakashi sensei” Naruto wailed.

  
    “So, will you stay?”

  
    “No. I am already late and Iruka sensei will probably kill me.” He said before he winked at me and walked away grinning.

  
    “So” Kakashi said, moving the papers in front of him “what’s new?”

  
     I sat on the sofa near his desk.

     “Well, there are some Kaguya traces further to the north. Nothing else about her up until now. But, I found a tone of shit about Danzo” I spitted the name.  
I rummaged in my hoodie and pulled the scroll that had my whole report. “Also” I sighted “I found some things about Akatsuki – the beginning, Obito’s involvement and how Nagato actually got the Rinnegan. It’s all in there” I said pointing at the scroll.

  
    Kakashi nodded, pensively: “I’ll read it until tomorrow. Something else?”

  
    “As in?” I answered.

  
    “As in will you stay? Will you go again?”

  
    I paused for a second. He had that look again, when he was reading every movement on my face, trying to find more answers that I wanted to give.

  
    “I don’t know” I said.

  
    He seemed taken aback by my answer. He smirked a bit:

  
    “I thought you have answers for everything.”

  
    I rolled my eyes: “Those Kaguya remnants must be found. But I need to leave and go straight to the North, no distraction.”

  
    “I see. Well, then until you decide I have something to show you.” He said, moving towards the big shelf near his desk and pulling two books out of there and a scroll. He opened the scroll and handed it to me:

  
    “I don’t know if Naruto told you or not, but after you left the first thing he wanted to do was to clean Itachi’s name and yours.”

    My heart began to ache hearing my brother’s name. I watched the scroll, dumbfounded.

  
    “That is his full report about everything that happened. Everything that Konoha did back then, Itachi’s decision, the clan alienation and the disaster and so on. He also asked for a decree” he handed me another scroll “that I signed. All the information that could be disclosed at that time would be used to inform the villagers about your clan and your brother. Itachi’s name was craved on the memorial too.”

  
    He paused for a bit, watching me intently. I was breathing hard, trying to focus my vision on the words from the scroll. It’s not that I didn’t wanted to talk about Itachi. It’s just that I didn’t care what this damn village thought about him. If I kept holding on that idea, I would have never given up my intent to revenge my brother. It was too much pain, so I just let it go. I worked to get used to the idea that I can miss Itachi and that it’s ok to miss him. To mourn him. But Naruto blew everything away with his sense of justice. I was reading his chicken scratch in the report, where he was saying that it’s important for future generations to know that Itachi Uchiha wasn’t a mass murderer, but a hero with no choice. My vision blurred a bit. Was I crying? I hid my eyes under my bangs.

  
    Kakashi continued “Also, and that’s the last part, Naruto wanted another decree to change the history book in the Academy.”

    He handed me the big books from before, opening at the summary and pointing the pages.

    “He said kids need to know the truth about the Uchiha clan, black on white. It was a long process, but we managed to print the final result two years ago, so since then kids are learning who Itachi really was.”

  
    Naruto did that. Naruto cleaned our clan name in front of the people that hated us. While I traveled and cleaned Itachi’s name outside, Naruto realized that what I wanted the most, even if I didn’t say it out loud, was that the fuckers that used my brother would know that they are actually to blame. If I would take my revenge on every single person that made Itachi suffer, they would probably end worse than Danzo did. But that would make me the Sasuke that I used to be. The Sasuke that sought revenge in darkness. Instead, Naruto did things differently, like he had always done. He sought answers and solutions in light, waiting patiently until he could make a move. That idiot was the biggest idiot ever. Still, he managed to do things that I have never been able to do. Not even if I tried.

  
    Kakashi stood in silence.

  
    “Thank you” I said, a wisper only. I said those words only for another person and that was Sakura, I said it because she needed and because she always fought for me and waited for me and gave me her unconditional forgiveness. Now I said it for Kakashi-sensei because he tried so hard to keep us together in the past and after that. He looked for us. There was one more person I had those words for.

  
    I stood up.  
    “..? Where are you going?” Kakashi asked.

  
    “To the Academy.”

  
    I walked towards the door, but I could have swore that the Hokage was smiling.

    The Academy looked different, only the entrance was similar to the one in the past. There were classes going on, so it was quiet. The hallways were all new and white. One room in the corner had the door opened. Iruka’s – sensei voice was clear and exact, underlining facts and names and numbers. It reminded me of the old days, when I listened to the same pace of words. Naruto was sitting in the front and taking notes. I figured he was probably scribbling the words with his chicken scratch and that after he won’t be able to read a damn thing. He would frown here and there or scratch his nape. I stood near the door, not saying a thing for almost 20 minutes, observing how his states of focus would change. He would fumble at times with the pages in front of him or the zipper of his jacket. He would yawn and shake his head when Iruka-sensei didn’t saw him, trying to fight with the obvious boredom that hit him. But you could see how much he was trying to pay attention and learn. He had always been that kind of hyperactive child that annoyed everyone. He would get even more annoying when someone told him to stop. Then he would challenge you and you wouldn’t say no to him. I have been there so many times. I wanted just to make him shut the fuck up, but then, with years I realised I hated him being quiet. I wanted him to challenge me again and again and again, because only like that was I able to move forward too.

  
    He saw me at the door and immediately his face was all a smile. That bright blinding smile, all teeth shining. The sun would probably hate the guy. I smirked back and entered.

  
    “Ah, Sasuke-kun” Iruka said “nice to see you. Welcome back.”

  
    “Nice to see you too sensei.”

  
    “What brings you here?” Naruto asked.

  
    _You._ “I actually came to see you suffer” I said.

   
    He smirked and rolled his eyes “very funny, Sasuke.”

  
     I was ready to respond when a little girl dashed in the classroom, straight to Naruto. He started to laugh and pulled her in his lap:

  
    “Hi Mei! How are you?”

  
    The little girl must have been 5 or 6, probably in kindergarden. She had this long silky strawberry blonde hair and chocolate eyes.

  
    “Naruto nii-san” she said hugging him tight “I missed you”.

  
    “Mei” Naruto said patiently “how could you miss me when you saw me yesterday?”.

  
    “But you didn’t play with me” the girl retorded “ so I missed you”.

  
    “Oh yeah?” Naruto said. Then started to tickle her. She was all a laugh and so did he. Iruka was smiling at them. I was strucked. This was something new to me. Naruto and I used to be kids. Now Naruto was playing with another kid, not looking like my idiot best friend, but like an adult. Or a kid bigger than the one he was holding. We were kids starved of love and suddenly we were not anymore. But new kids were born and I realized Naruto must have thought that this new generation must not be like we were. Alone, broken, unhappy. They needed to smile and laugh their asses off, like this girl was doing now.

  
    Naruto stopped the game and the girl focused her beautiful eyes on me:

  
    “Who is he?”

  
    “Oh, he is my best friend, Sasuke” Naruto said.

  
    The girl came to me, hand in front to shake it with me. I stood at her level and mirrored her actions. She said:

  
    “Hi Sasuke nii-san. I’m Mei. Naruto nii-san came once to our kindergarden and we became friends”.

  
    I couldn’t help but smile: “Hi Mei. Nice to meet you.”

  
    “Your hair is too long” she said eloquently. Naruto started to grin. She took one of her hair clips, grabbed my bangs out of my Rinnegan eye and clipped it. She

gasped:

  
    “Wow, you have a purple eye!”

  
    I was so taken aback that I managed to mumble a “yeah” before Naruto’s laugh started to echo in the room. He kept on barking like that for over a minute. Mei pulled out a little mirror from the bag she kept with her and showed me the hair job. _Imagine: Sasuke Uchiha with his bangs away, clipped with some pinky little..ribbon? That was that thing?_

  
    "You look ravishing” Iruka added, words that made Naruto laugh even harder than before. He was now holding his stomach.

  
    “You’ll hack up a lung like that” I said.

  
    “No, Sasuke. You indeed look raaaavishing” he said, high pitched voice and eyelashes a flutter.

  
    _I’ll kill him one day, I swear!_


	2. Ramen for rainy days

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! It's update daaaaaay.  
> First of all, I am really grateful for all the kudos and comments you left as feedback (even if there are not that many, I'm still really grateful for all them). As I said before, it's my first fanfiction and even if I like it and I think it's good, I'm just the writer. You guys are the ones who should evaluate my "work". So, thank you. :D  
> Hope this chapter won't dissapoint you and if you still want to give feedback, I'll be happy and giddy about it :D  
> Have a nice week! ^_^

    In the next two weeks we kinda fell into a nice routine, both soothing and annoying for me. The annoying part was the morning: 2 or 3 days a week I would wake up with Naruto being too close to me in bed to feel comfortable. So the solution was to pretend I’m still asleep and roll over, to push him away spitting a curse or to jump out of the bed. I wondered if the idiot was doing it on purpose or not.

    Then, he would make the breakfast and insisted to clean the dishes, explaining ironically that “I can’t wash dishes properly with one hand”. _No, shit! I could wash them perfectly, thank you very much._

    After, we would dress up and go in different directions: I would spent time with Kakashi, talking about ANBU’s latest investigation on the remnants of the Root or other stuff, while Naruto was at the Academy.

    The lunch could have different versions: I would go and pick Naruto from the Academy or Sakura would pick both of us up and we would go somewhere to eat.

    The afternoon was for training. At first I went on my own, then Naruto suddenly asked me one day to fight him, so from that day on we trained together. It was relaxing to exchange a few punches with him every day without trying to kill him. It reminded me of the Shinobi Bout thing that we never ended properly.

    The evening was usually quiet. He would read his notes or chapters from his books. The image would make me laugh internally. Naruto would stay in the middle of the bed, swimming in papers that were scattered around. He would underline stuff with a red pen or take other notes. When he would start to get bored you could hear him sighting or yawning, mumbling things like: “I don’t get this thing at all” or “maybe I am more stupid than I thought” or “the hell this means. Bet the author doesn’t know either”.

    Today was one of those days in which the grey sky, covered in clouds would make Naruto sleepy and partially grumpy. He was quiet in the morning and he didn’t say much before he left to the Academy. While I was talking with Kakashi about Danzo and the way he was training people like Sai in the Root, the door opened and a smiling Sakura entered.

    “Sakura” Kakashi said, all a smile too. _Again the mask was there but he looked like smiling._

    “Hello, Hokage-sama” she said. Kakashi rolled his eyes then mumbled a “stop calling me like that”.

    “What brings you here?” I asked.

    “You.” She said.

    “Me?”

    “Yeah. Naruto has been pestering me for two days now that you need clothes and he doesn’t want to take you shopping”.

    Kakashi was trying (and not succeeding) to keep his laugh hidden.

    “What?!” I asked.

    “Yeah” she said, grabbing my hand and forcing me to follow her “so let’s go.” I tried to oppose. But honestly, she had this monstrous force and the grip on my wrist could get really painful if I said no.

     Following her like a damn brat who was scolded by his mother for doing something stupid I snarled:

    “He is a complete idiot and I’m gonna kill him.”

    Sakura laughed: “Maybe he got bored of you wearing his clothes”.

 _I like wearing them_ I wanted to retort, but that would be labeled as a brain fart.

    For the next two hours she moved and pushed me around a bunch of clothes stores, picking hoodies, pants, T-shirts, sweaters or jackets randomly and throwing them in my face to try. As in forcing me to try, otherwise she would start whining and be annoying. I wanted to turn into an asshole and walk away from her, but a part of me enjoyed this plain domestic stuff. And she was all a smile and she acted naturally, without trying to “seduce” me in any way.

    After the shopping spree we bought coffee and we somehow ended up at the Training Grounds. The place also looked the same as the old one. Three big wooden posts in the middle of the field. It brought back images of a Naruto in a orange suit, tied on one of them and crying for food. It brought back the image of a different Sasuke feeding him, even if he didn’t want to.

    Sakura smiled: “Ah the memories.”

    “Yeah..” I said.

    “You know” she went on “we took the bells from Kakashi again after you left.”

    “Really?”. That was something that I wasn’t aware off.

    “Yeah. After Naruto came back and before we went to search for you the first time, Tsunade-sama and Kakashi wanted to see if we got any stronger during our training. So me and Naruto teamed up against Kakashi.”

    Her teal eyes were fixed on the poles, but I could see that she was looking at the memory itself.

    “And?” I said.

    “Well, Naruto came up with a plan. It was a stupid solution, but it worked. Kakashi lost in front of the most unpredictable ninja ever” she chuckled. “At that time Jiraiya-sama published the last volume of that porn book of his. Naruto bluffed as a last resort, trying to reveal the end for Kakashi-sensei. He didn’t read it and he didn’t want to know. It caught him off guard.”

    I smirked: “What a story.”

    “Yeah. It’s a nice memory”.

    “And that Sai guy?”

    “Sai? What’s with him?” she turned to me scanning my face.

    “How did you guys met him? Naruto never told me.” I was curious a bit, especially after the talk with Kakashi.

    “Sai was Danzo’s spy at that time. We formed this new Team Kakashi with Sai and Captain Yamato before the Tenchi Bridge mission. On the way we found out that Sai actually wanted to kill you. Then he changed his mind…” she paused for a second offering me a lopsided smile “ actually Naruto made him change his mind.”

    “As always” I observed.

    “You know” she said “ with Sai was complicated. Naruto hated him at first. The journey to Tenchi Bridge was quite an adventure.”

    “Why?”

    “They kept on arguing because of stupid things. Sai was an asshole and Naruto an utter idiot. So they kept fighting and insulting each other. Then Sai crossed the line and I punched him.”

    “You what?!” I said, an octave a little too high, even for my usual “curious Sasuke” reactions. I couldn’t imagine Sakura punching people just because they were rude..except Naruto, of course. She kept punching him even after the war.

    She laughed seeing my reaction: “He talked crap about you and Naruto was already boiling. It could have turned worse than it did.”

    “So it was better that you punched him?” I said.

    “I cooled off a bit and Naruto was pretty amused after. Which was good at that time. He needed to laugh.”

    I watched her face. She was smiling at me and I realized I liked this side of her more. People probably got confused that nothing happened between us after the war, but the truth is it didn’t work. I couldn’t be the man she wanted and gradually she changed her mind, admitting that indeed we were pretty good friends, but that was it. She wrote me when I was away more than Naruto did, which brought us closer. She was smart and funny and pretty sassy sometimes. She observed the world quietly and talked about her opinions only if it was needed. And I was a better friend for her than a lover.

    “So, how long will you stay?” she changed the subject.

    I shrugged: “Honestly, I don’t know.” I confessed. She nodded in response:

    “It’s understandable. You were away for a pretty long time and now things are the same, yet different.”

    “Yeah..”

    She scanned my face again. Her eyes had that warm light that I saw in Naruto too and she looked cute with her short pink hair, now cut in a bob. She took a deep breath and then said, teal eyes in mine:

    “You know Sasuke, it’s not bad if you don’t know when you’ll leave. It’s good for the village.  People need to see you as you are now. And it’s good for us, for what Team 7 used to be” she paused a bit seeing my frozen expression. I kinda wanted to avoid this type of discussion, but she kept on:

    “I know you don’t like when I don’t mind my own business, but this is the truth. You feel you need to stay away because you were considered a traitor and that’s fine. Maybe you still hate this village and that’s fine too. This kind of things don’t go away easily. And yes, you also needed to redeem yourself. That’s understandable too. But 3 years and a half are enough. Naruto wanted you to stay in the first place. He..” she hesitated a bit “he is happy that you are here. He kept on rambling about you these past two weeks. He even likes you as a room mate.”

    “I-I don’t know what to say Sakura. I don’t want to talk about this.”

    She smiled warmly patting me on the shoulder: “You don’t have to, but I need you to know.”

_I need you to know._

_***_

    After the talk with Sakura I went to the apartment to drop the clothes. Naruto wasn’t home yet and I was bored. I opened the fridge: nothing to eat for dinner. We should buy food. Then it hit me: the idiot hasn’t eaten Ichiraku Ramen for quite some time. I wondered if I could go there and ordered something for home. I checked my wallet: enough to pay for dinner.

    Konoha was quite animated in the evening. Jounins and chuunins drinking and eating, kids running around, parents and couples buying food or walking. Ichiraku’s was just around the corner, his lamps throwing a red light on the pavement. It smelled like miso and pork when I got in. The restaurant was also expanded a bit, but still had that traditional ramen bar air. Teuchi-san turned and gasped when he saw me. If I remember well, I’ve been here once or twice when I was younger, but it seemed like he remembered me.

   “Ummm…good evening” I said.

    “Good evening, Sasuke-kun. Nice to see you here” he greeted. “How have you been?”

    Usually when I’m asked how have I been I froze. “How have you been” has so many different meanings and from all the socially interaction phrases this is the most annoying for me. How have I been as in I have to tell you stuff about my personal life or you want something general and vague as an answer – like “fine”, “ok”, “I’m good”? Since I’ve left I got this question often. Even Orochimaru asked me this dumb question once, when I visited him to get some informations one year ago. He watched me intensely when I started to talk as if my answer could change his life forever. Well the guy is weird, but it doesn’t change the fact that people really want to know “how have I been”. I managed to grasp the meaning of the question when Sakura asked me the same thing in the fifth or sixth letter we exchanged. I had answered with a vague “fine” and she wrote me back: **“Sasuke, I really want to know how you are. “Fine” is a bullshit you write for someone that doesn’t know your clan has been murdered by your brother because he was used by Konoha and you turned into a rogue ninja. I know this stuff, so please elaborate and drop the crap. Are you ok? Mentally? Is there guilt, hatred, regret, self-blame? Does your arm hurt? Do you have nightmares? This is what I want from you as an answer, not an empty “fine” that I know it is a lie.”** I remember I stared at her words for 5 minutes, not believing what she said. It was also the moment I started to see her differently. Since then we got closer.

    Now, back to the present situation, “how have you been” for friends means you need to tell the truth. “How have you been” for strangers means you can say “fine” or you can just say what you’re doing. As in:

    “I wondered if I could order food for home, actually.”

    “Of course” Teuchi-san said. “What do you want?”

    “What does Naruto usually order?”

    Teuchi-san exchanged a look with his daughter that came out of nowhere and smiled:

    “If it is a rainy day, then is miso ramen” he declared, proud of being a person who knew what Naruto ate on rainy days.

    “Then I’ll have two of those” I said.

    “Extra pork for Naruto?”

    I hesitated a bit. His daughter was now grinning at me. _What the actual fuck is she grinning at?_

    “Y-y-yeah”. _Did I stutter? What the fuck?!_

    The waiting time was complete agony. Teuchi-san asked me a bunch of questions about Naruto while he was cooking and I had to answer to all of them, while Ayame, the daughter, stared at me intensely, scanning my face when I was talking about Naruto. Her eyes could have popped out because of so much staring. When the order was ready I paid and try not to rush out the restaurant.

 

    When I arrived to the apartment, Naruto dashed out of the bedroom, voice an octave higher:

    “Where the fuck have you been?!” his eyes throwing fire.

    I frowned and retorted with a growl: “What the fuck is wrong with you? I went to buy food.”

    His expression changed suddenly, eyes widened:

    “You what?”

    I dropped the bag on the table and went to the fridge, opening it violently and pointing inside:

    “You idiot, do you see food in here?”

    “No” he said.

    “Well, this is where I’ve been.” I growled again.

    He stared at me and I saw how his state changed gradually from surprise, to anger again and finally regret. His blue eyes shimmered in embarrassment:

    “Sorry” he said “I-“ and he stopped, fixing his eyes on the bags from the table. I was also angry and fired up a bit, but then it dawned on me, seeing his demeanour changing again. Pain. His blue eyes had now that glossy texture of sadness, eyebrows a little frowned. Pain. He thought I ran away again. He didn’t trusted me fully? But he said back then at the Valley of the End that he did. Did he changed his mind? And why was I bothered?! I sighted and he turned to me:

    “I’m sorry Sasuke. I was worried. I didn’t know where you were.”

    “You thought I ran away.” I said. It wasn’t a question, it wasn’t even a statement. It was the complete and honest truth I felt at that moment.

    He frowned and took a step closer to me: “Bullshit. I was just worried. If what you mean by that is that I don’t trust you, then you’re wrong.” He cleared his voice: “I was just worried. This routine made me expect you were home already, but then you weren’t and Kakashi didn’t know where you were and Sakura said you came home after you met her. It wasn’t lack of trust. It was plain worry.” He looked in my eyes and I could see that those words were imprinted in his brain. It wasn’t a lie. Also, did he actually ran asking everyone where I was when he didn’t find me home?

    We stood there for a couple of seconds, blue eyes on black. Then, he broke the tension:

    “Do I smell ramen?”

    Opportunity to drop the subject because otherwise we would bicker with each other all night long:

    “Yeah. The one with extra pork is yours.”

    He turned to me, this time a bright smile: “Thank you!”

    Naruto’s smile was wide, all teeth showing. I have never smiled like that since my parents died. My smile was considered by many just a smirk. But Naruto was bright, he was blinding when he was smiling. His eyes would become just two fine lines. It was so..disquieting. Realising I was probably brain farting again I said:

   “No problem” mimicking his “not at all” from my first night here. We ate, thrown the trash away and Naruto went for a shower.

    While the water was running I sat on Naruto’s side of the bed, closer to the window. The night was dark, no moon showing because of the clouds. That made Konoha’s lights shining brighter in the dark and throwing shadows everywhere. One more month and autumn would be done. Suddenly my chest started to tighten, so I went in the living room and out on the balcony. It was cold and too quiet. Sakura’s words came back to me “ _I need you to know”._ Why? Why did she needed me to know? Usually, when I am vague is because I find the person I’m talking to too annoying or because I don’t want to talk at all. But with Sakura today it seemed like she was trying to be vague because she knew something I didn’t. About Naruto. _Naruto_ I said his name in my mind. It weighted differently than it did before. It wasn’t standing for “rival” anymore, it wasn’t even standing for plain “friend” anymore. It was _Naruto_ who wasn’t just a friend. He was _my friend,_ my _best_ friend. _So what now? What do I do with this?_

    When I was away I tried to see the world through Naruto’s eyes. At first it was hard without having him in my company, but just like that night, I used to say his name in my mind over and over again, like a mantra, until the world was not ugly and dark anymore. And soon it felt like I was chasing Naruto in the world, not the world itself. I heard his steps in the living room. He opened the door of the balcony:

    “Sasuke, are you ok?”. The wind blew and a strong orange fragrance hit me.

    “Yeah, I’m fine” I said, without turning. He patted me on the back:

    “Don’t stay too much. It’s kinda ass freezing” he said. I turned and faced him, heart clenching:

    “Are you ok with me here?” I blurted, without thinking much.

    He frowned: “What do you mean?”

    “I mean what I said. Are you ok with me here? In your house, your space”, _your life._

    He looked me straight in the eyes again: “You are my best friend and we are sharing my apartment. I am more than ok with you here.”

    “What if I would leave tomorrow?” I pushed, without knowing why I was taking the discussion in that heavy side of things.

    “Do you need to leave tomorrow?”

    “It’s not what I asked” I said shaking my head a bit.

    He sighted: “You are complicating things again, Sasuke. Do you have to leave tomorrow? Do I mind? It depends why you leave. If you need to leave, ok, go. But if you leave just because of a stupid idea that occurred to you, then yes, I am pissed off. I mind.” He took a deep breath and went on: “Do I want you to stay, as in specifically? Yeah. I want you to stay and I really don’t mind, even if you are an asshole sometimes.” The last words were offered with a lopsided smile.

     He just stood there, in the middle of the balcony, hair in all directions and probably still wet from the shower. Another breeze and his orange scent was in my lungs again. And I realised I wanted to cry. Like hard, with tears and sobs and everything. I wanted to cry because I was so starved of love and this idiot came in my life out of nowhere and chased me for years and now he was standing in the middle of the balcony telling me he wanted me to stay, even after I tried to kill him more than a couple of times. I turned, facing the village and mumbled in my chin:

    “You idiot.”

   He laughed and he ruffled my hair. It sent a jolt of electricity to my spine. When he took his hand away I felt the difference in temperature. We went inside to sleep.

***

    I can’t explain why, but during the night I had a nightmare as ugly as the ones after the war. I was in our old house again, in my parents bedroom, just instead of their dead bodies, on the floor was Naruto’s and Sakura’s corpses, bloody and in unnatural positions. A menacing shadow was floating over them and when the thing noticed me it took Danzo’s face. It came closer and closer and I wanted to fight it but I couldn’t. I started to scream violently, panic rising more when I realised I couldn’t move. So I screamed again and tried to activate my chakra to kill the damn thing. Then I heard a voice shouting: “SASUKE STOP!” A warm chakra enveloped me, but I still fought the darkness of the nightmare. Then a jolt of electricity in my brain and an unfamiliar bass voice who said “Wake up, Uchiha boy” brought me back to reality.

    My vision was blurry, but I felt someone holding me close and whispering “it’s okay, it’s over” in my right ear. My T-shirt was extremely sweaty, my forehead too. My bangs was sticky and gross. Naruto, who was the one holding me, my fuzzy brain processed, was warm and his citrusy smell was combined with something else that I couldn’t recognize.

    He was here. He wasn’t covered in blood. My heart decided that it was the time to jump into a frenzy, remembering the shadows of the nightmare. The problem was the beat was irregular and my breath also started to hitch, my lungs unable to take the air in, as they usually did. Hearing my huffing and puffing Naruto looked at me and started to panic too.

   “Shit! Shit! Shit! You’re hyperventilating.”

_I what???_

   “Sasuke” he ordered me touching my face gently on both sides “Listen to me. Breathe.” And he started to show me the rhythm, which was slower and steadier than the messy thing I was doing. Trying to follow him made my chest tighten even more and my heart ached. My vision was unfocused, my thoughts scattered. I was hearing him saying “Come on, Sasuke, breathe, please” but I couldn’t. I felt tears starting to burn in the corner of my eyes. Then it occurred to me that the night lamp was on and Naruto’s eyes looked like sapphires. I focused on their hypnotizing colour and my breath started to be able to follow Naruto’s pattern. After a while the “breathe” turned into soothing “Good, Sasuke. You’re ok now. It’s fine.” When I calmed completely, he pulled me into a gentle hug and I didn’t push him away. I didn’t have the power to and I didn’t want to. I hid my face in the crook of his neck and cried silently. He caressed my nape, playing lazily with my hair and whispering “shh, it’s fine. It’s ok. I’m here.”

_Stay._

    We stood like that for another ten minutes and Naruto’s warm body was lulling me back to sleep. He patted me on the head:

   “Your T-shirt is wet. I’ll bring you a new one, ok?”

   My T-shirt was actually drenched in sweat. He went to the drawers and picked one that I bought that day and a towel.

    He came back and helped me change, wiping my torso off with the towel. I just stood there, unable to form any coherent thought or action. He wiped my eyes too (was I still crying?)  and patted me again on the shoulder: “You’re done now”. He went to the bathroom and threw the T-shirt in the laundry basket. When he came back his eyes were worried and he scanned my face:

    “Are you going back to sleep or do you need something else?” he said, voice calm again.

    I shook my head as a no. He waited for me to lay on my side and turned the night lamp off. The moon was up, no clouds, so the room was filled with a blue-ish light. Althought I wanted to protest, he took me in his arms again and I gave up, laying there, head on his chest until his heart beats, steady and calm, lulled me back to sleep.

   When I woke up in the morning, it was past 12 and I was alone. The memories of last night’s adventures rushed in. _Fuck my life!! For shit sake, did I just hugged Naruto all night long?!_ I groaned in embarrassement and punched the air with my feet. _Saint Sage of Six Paths, kill me! Just kill this pitiful shinobi who let his idiot friend soothe him like a 2 year old who couldn’t take a shit._

    Turning my face to the night stand I saw a little note, scrambled in Naruto’s ugly writing:

   “ **I told Grandma Tsunade that you are not ok. She will be waiting for you at the Hospital, around 2 PM. don’t be an ass and go. She was the Fifth Hokage, Sasuke**!”

   The damn idiot knew I wouldn’t do something like disrespecting any official that helped him during the war. If I didn’t go, I’m pretty sure Tsunade would make a scene and I would be labeled as the “ungrateful Uchiha”. So I got up, ate and went to the Hospital.

   When I arrived Tsunade was waiting for me.

   “Ah, Sasuke, come in”.

   “Good…afternoon.” I said.

   “Sit down” she pointed the hospital bed next to her.

   “So Naruto barged in my office this morning saying something about you hyperventilating last night. Is it true?”

   “I don’t even know how he knows that word, but I guess that’s what you call it.”

   She watched me intently and declared in a serious tone: “Naruto knows about hyperventilation because it happened to him too. In the Iron Country, a few years ago.”

    I felt a punch in my stomach. She was talking about the Five Hokage Summit that I fucked up back in the days. I felt embarrassed and guilty. I lowered my eyes, although my asshole part wanted to tell her something.

    “So” she went on “ get your clothes off”. She took a stethoscope and came closer. After I undressed she told me to breathe and she checked my heart and my blood pressure. He took a file and wrote something in it. Then she told me to turn around, hands touching my back in different places. I could feel her chakra scanning my spine, lungs and muscles. It was a weird feeling and her chakra was faster and sharper than Sakura’s. She checked my amputated arm too. She wrote some other things. Sakura came in smiling at me and Tsunade said:

   “Sakura will take you some blood for tests” her tone was saying that a possible “no” was not part of the discussion. I nodded. After Sakura was out, Tsunade told me I can put my long sleeve back on.

   “Hyperventilation is a condition in which you start to breathe very fast and it’s usually triggered by fear, stress, or a phobia or it occurs as a response to emotional states, such as depression, anxiety, or anger. For you the trigger was probably the nightmare. It does not indicate a heart problem and it’s usually a very rare condition. Unless you suffer from panic attacks.”

   I nodded.

   “Your heart seems fine. Same for your other organs. I can already assume that your blood tests are also good. As for your arm, it healed properly.”

Sakura came back with a chart and my tests. Tsunade analysed them intensely. Sakura wanted to go, but Tsunade stopped her. “Sit down near Sasuke , Sakura”. We looked at each other confused.

   “I want to address one problem and I feel like Sakura should be here too. I have already had this talk with Naruto and I think it is better if he won’t be here today. He gets too hasty sometimes, even if he is a man now.” She paused and took a deep breath scanning my face:

   “I am talking about your arm, Sasuke. Before you give me an eye roll or death stare, let me finish. Naruto told me the reasons why you refused the prosthetic 3 years ago. And I respect your decision. But that was 3 years ago. It’s enough punishment. As much as you did wrong you did good too. You are young and talented and strong and that arm may be useful when something bigger and more terrifying than Kaguya will attack us, if such thing exists. Besides, as you may have seen to Naruto, this arm works the same as the normal one. If you are concerned about your compatibility with Hashirama cells, the blood tests show me that you are fine. I don’t want you to give me an answer now. But talk to Sakura, talk to Naruto and until next week tell me if you changed your mind or not.”

   I fixed her, showing that I listened, but hated the topic. Her caramel eyes were confident and somehow scary. It reminded me of Sakura in the war when she wrecked those creatures with her punches. The subject was unavoidable and my answer too. I didn’t want a new arm back then because as much as I knew Naruto forgave me the second the fight ended, I couldn’t forgive myself. And besides, people are not like Naruto. He was and will forever be genuinely good and forgiving, unless you are really a piece of trash and he’ll tell you to fuck off. Otherwise, he will talk and try to make you change your mind, no matter how exhausting that whole process would be, even for him. But I wasn’t like that. I needed to forgive myself first. I needed to convince myself that what he said about the world was right, that the world was better and the way we solved our problems and misunderstandings is useful. That this path me and him found to walk together can be used by others too.

   I left Tsunade and Sakura in the office, telling them, as politely as possible that I’ll think about the prosthetic. I wandered aroung Konoha, without a specific target and I ended up at the Training Grounds again. Naruto was sitting at the top of one of the wooden posts, legs swinging like a child. He was with the back, lost in thoughts probably because he was humming something. I cleared my throat and he noticed me.

   “Hi” he said carefully, as in he was waiting for me to jump on him and start a whole new episode of “Naruto and Sasuke biting each other asses.” Instead I answered with a same monotone “Hi”. He jumped in front of me, his long legs flexing when he touched the ground:

   “Are you ok? With your breath and everything?”

   I really, really, really wanted to avoid talking to him about last night, but how did I do that? And I knew if I said to forget about it I would be an asshole because he took care of me when I was obviously not ok. I took a deep breath:

   “..Yeah..Ummm Tsunade-sama checked my health. It seems I’m ok.”

   “That’s great then” he said with a release sight. Was he that worried? He started to fumble with his jacket zipper, fixing the ground and avoiding my eyes:

   “Did you talk about other stuff?”

   I watched his movements:

   “By stuff you mean the prosthetic?”

   Silence. He clenched his fists:

   “Yeah” he gave up the hesitation from before and looked me in the eye:

   “Have you thought about it?” he said in a serious tone.

   I sat down on the grass, although it was wet because it had been raining in the morning. He sat next to me. I fixed him:

   “Why do you want me to get that prosthetic that much?”

   “Because you need an arm and I know you are ok without it and you can survive like that, but still I want you to get it” he declared, voice steady.

   “You know I don’t deserve it, Naruto..” I said, voice sounded sadder then I intended.

   “Will you give me a break with this?!” he barked. “You deserve it. We won the war because of you. What came next it was between you and me and it’s not Konoha’s business”.

   “It could have became Konoha’s business and the world business if I had sticked to my idea.”

   He growled, exasperated: “Sasuuke”. It was more like a whine and it didn’t sounded like “Sa-su-ke”, but rather like “Sas-ke”. He called my name like that only when he wanted to blurt things out or when we were fighting. Now he was just pissed off and was pouting like a child.

   I nudged his knee with mine: “I’ll think about it, ok?”

   His eyes widened, full of hope.

   “BUT don’t pester me!” I added. He barked a laugh.

   Honestly, I didn’t know what my decision was. But I was honest this time when I said I’ll think about it. I didn’t say that just to make him drop the subject. I really wanted to let the whole prosthetic thing settle in my mind so I could make a choice.

   “By the way Naruto…last night..I heard a voice in my head”. I remembered the bass voice that helped me wake up completely.

   His eyeborws raised then he scratched his nape and said: “Uh..it was Kurama. I couldn’t wake you up and he tried to help. Sorry if it’s weird.”

   Was it weird? Yeah, because I was always forgetting that Naruto was 2 in 1. I saw the monster inside him along time ago and I saw it even in reality. I understood during the war that the creature changed and they were friends. So, the moral of the story was that it was damn weird, but I wasn’t bothered. Just curious:

   “Does he? Like speak in you mind all the time?”

   Naruto chuckled:

   “Sometimes. It depends. He helps me learn and sometimes he is explaining things to me. But he can block things if he wants and I can too. Like turn the connection off, you kno’”.

   “Isn’t it confusing?”

   He frowned, amused:

   “Why would it be confusing? It’s like I am talking to you, just Kurama is here not physically.”

   I smirked. Suddenly a little fox formed by chakra was standing casually on Naruto’s shoulder, the bass voice from before saying:

    “But if you want to see me I can come only for you, Uchiha-boy”. Then the fox winked at me, all fangs showing.

   Naruto was mortified and started to blush violently. The fox disappeared in a second. The thing winked _winked_ at me. WHAT THE FUCK!? And Naruto was _blushing_ like a teenage girl. My brain did that thing again when it decides it needs to fixate on something and go berserk about it (aka brain fart mode) WHY WAS HE BLUSHING? WHY WAS HE BLUSHING? WHY WAS HE BLUSHING? WHY WAS HE BLUSHING? WHY WAS HE BLUSHING? HE LOOKS CUTE. WHY WAS HE BLUSHING? HE LOOKS CUTE. WAAAAAAAIT!! WHAT THE FUCK, SASUKE?!


	3. Prosthetics and kisses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Happy Saturday (hope you all have a great weekend). :D Again, thank you for you comments and feedback. I appreciate each of them and I smile everytime I get reactions from you. <3  
> Now, this chapter...I don't know how exactly to explain it: basically not just this chapter but the entire fanfiction is a sum of little moments between Sasuke and Naruto that we haven't seen in the original series (duh Kishimoto didn't write gay stuff :)))))) ), but I thought that it was interesting to be seen. So...yeah...I don't know if I was clear or not (if I didn't, ask me and I'll try my best to answer). :D And we have a little bit of Naruto's POV in this one, so enjoy. :D  
> Don't forget to have a great week! :D aaaaand if you still ("still" is the key word here) like how this story unfolds, feedback is always wanted/needed/appreciated.  
> ^_^

    The “fox winking incident” was…unsolved for me, but Naruto started to ramble some shit about dinner with all the old Konoha 11 at “Yakiniku-Q” and tried to convince me to come. I was not into the _rebonding- with- guys -that hated- me thing_. Well, actually they didn’t hate me but..I don’t know. I felt weird to spend time with them. As what? Old friends? Old same people village? However, despite my attempts to avoid this dinner, Naruto kept asking me to come. He was completely annoying and we bickered all day long. Then because his strategy was failing he decided it was better to find allies, as in _Kakashi the Hokage_ and _Sakura the Eloquent Team Mate_. To sum up, three people pestered me for three days, until I gave up in the morning of the damn event and barked at Naruto that I’ll be there.

_I was making fun of him that he was getting too soft. Look. At. Me .Now. Better don’t, just don’t._

    So, on a Friday night the “Yakiniku-Q” was closed for a private event, in which me, Naruto, Sakura, Ino, Sai, Shikamaru, Hinata, Lee, Tenten, Kiba, Shino and Choji gathered. The beginning was a mess of “Hi”, “hello”, “how have you been?” being thrown around, hand shakes between men and hugs between the girls.   _Like they weren’t living in the same village *eye roll*._ Some stupid jokes flew between Kiba and Naruto. The last one was smacked hard on the back of the head by Sakura, while the dog guy was warned silently by a slightly angry Hinata. Then we had to sit at the long table, which was another moment of chaos as some wanted to stay in Konoha 11 formation, while others refused to “sit in the same boring order”, as Kiba said. In the end, they decided on Konoha 11 formation, which meant I sat between Sakura at left and Naruto, at right. Near Naruto was Team 10 (Shikamaru, Ino and Choji). On the other side of the table, facing us was Team Kurenai (Hinata, Kiba, Shino) and Team Guy (Lee, Tenten) plus Sai.

    Until the waiter came to take our order Sakura was elbowing me, trying to make me get a glimpse on Ino and Sai, who were talking over the table. I glared at her because really I didn’t want to see Ino flirting and that guy being openly excited about the fact.

    “So Sasuke” Kiba barked over the table “you changed your clothes”. The entire room went silent. I wanted to smack my head into a wall and be done with this shit. Shikamaru intervened:

    “What the hell do you mean he changed his clothes? It’s not like he would wear the same clothes for months.”

    “You asshole, are you saying Sasuke is filthy?!” Naruto added with another bark.

    “Are you stupid?!” Kiba retorted. “ I am saying he was wearing your clothes two weeks ago”.

    The girls all gasped hearing this really important fact about my life and turned their eyes on me.

     “Sasuke, please ignore these idiots and explain” Ino said, eyelashes fluttering.

     Sakura whispered: “Please be nice, Sasuke..” so that I was the only one who heard. I rolled my eyes and explained, tone as boring as I could:

    “I wore Naruto’s clothes because I didn’t have any and the ones from my journey, I threw them away. They weren’t wearable anymore.”

    “See?” Naruto said, grimacing at Kiba.

    “Meh, are you sure you didn’t take any illness from Naruto?” Kiba pushed.

    “I’m sure, otherwise I would really laugh at your stupid jokes.” I retorted with a smirk.

    Silence again, then everyone boomed an “oooohhhh gooot youu, bboooy”, “good job Sasuke” making fun of Kiba for losing the little “fight”. He fixed me intensely and went silent..for like 5 seconds.

_Tsch.._

    The waiter finally came to take our order and he was overwhelmed by the amount of food and drink these guys wanted. Just for Choji there were 4 or 5 portions of barbecue. They ordered pork, chicken and seafood, a lot of sake and vegetables to grill with the meat. When food came Choji, Naruto and Ino started preparing the food. I was aiming the cherry tomatoes, but the bowl was too far away. Naruto noticed and took a few tomatoes and put them in my plate discreetly. I am pretty sure only Sakura saw it, but she didn’t say anything.

    Things got crazier when people started to drink, Lee specifically. He was extremely loud and his jokes were worse than Kiba’s. By now they were talking about the weirdest situations they’ve ever been in. Sai said something about being in an onsen very close to Naruto’s “instruments” and he received a smack on his head from Ino and a  “you are a dick” from Naruto. Shikamaru said that tonight was probably weird for him because he never thought he would enjoy such a colourful gathering. Kiba said Shino was weird and Shino, who was a little tipsy, said his “brain was full of Akamaru’s crap”. Sakura said Orochimaru was damn weird and everyone agreed vigorously.

    “Oi, Sasuke” Kiba said “didn’t you find Orochimaru weird in all those years?”

    “Kiba, you’re crossing the line” Hinata intervened.

    “No, it’s ok” I said. “At that time I didn’t think if he was weird or not, honestly.”

    “I wwaant Sasuke-kuun” Naruto said near me, wiggling his eyebrows and sticking his tongue out. He was trying to imitate a snake or something, I am not sure, but his little joke triggered another boomed laugh from everyone at the table. I just rolled my eyes, but the truth was he was pretty funny. My connection to Orochimaru was now…weird as the guy itself. He didn’t want my body anymore and he was helping me with any sort of information I needed during my journey. He even told me stuff about Konoha’s safety that ANBU couldn’t find out and about Danzo’s past. And Karin, Juugo and Suigetsu were with him. And whether I liked it or not, they were my friends. Everytime I went to one of Orochimaru’s hideouts we would spend some time together. Konoka kept an eye on him and I warned him everytime that if he does something stupid I’ll kill him. But I don’t think he would ever try something against Konoha. The war changed everyone, including him. He was still doing creepy shit in his lab, but it was harmless.

    “You know what I think is weird” Shikamaru added after the laugh stopped “Ino dating Sai”. Ino’s neck snapped and she turned to him, all a blush.

    “Wait, are they dating?” Kiba said.

    “Where the hell have you been all evening?” Naruto said ironically.

    “Kiba, my friend” Shikamaru added with a mischevious smile “he has been calling her “baby” all night long”.

    “Shikamaruuuu” Ino whined.

    “What about you, Sakura?” Tenten said suddenly.

    Sakura flinched “What about me?”

    “Aren’t you dating someone?”

    “No…” she answered.

    “How can she date someone when she’s working all day long?” Ino laughed, her  previous embarrassement now gone because she found someone to tease.

    “Shut up, Ino Pig!”

    “You shut up, Forehead.”

    And so they started biting each other asses, squeezing all the men that were pitiful enough to be between them. As in me, Naruto and Shikamaru.

     By the end of the dinner, me, Sakura and Hinata were the only one completely sober. Lee, Sai, Ino, Tenten and Kiba were out of order and I don’t know how they got home. Choji, Shikamaru and Naruto were tipsy, but ok. Naruto and I offered to walk Sakura and Hinata home, but they said they were fine.

    On the way to Naruto’s apartment I realised maybe he was tipsier than I thought, because he was walking in zig-zag and he was mumbling incoherent things. When we got into the bedroom he was just saying “Saaaa-ssssskeeeeeee” with a childish moaned voice and he kept saying that until I managed to put the idiot in bed. When I tried to lay him down he grabbed my colar, eyes fuzzy and half lidded:

    “I missed youuuuu, Sassss-keeeee. I missed you like cra—hgnnn-zyyyy” he hicupped. A strong whiff of alcohol hit my nostrils and made my stomach clench.

    “Ok, now let me go” I said, trying to stay calm.

    “Nooooooo” he barked, pulling me into a hug and holding me too tight “I missed yoouuu tooo muchhh Sassss-keeeee” he whined again.

_Holy shit I will kill this idiot!_

    We stood like that for a second, then when I thought he’ll release me he loosened the hug only to move a bit, face to face with me. He was standing too close, invading my personal space. I wanted to tell him to move the hell away, but I got caught in his damn blue eyes, that were glistening again in the light of the night lamp. Then, without a warning, he leaned in and kissed me.

***

    I laid all night on the living room floor, not being able to sleep and thinking only about Naruto’s soft lips touching mine. I froze when he leaned in, but he didn’t care, his lips exploring for a bit. I think he even sucked my upper lip, taking advantage of how shocked I was. Then he licked his own lips, laid in bed and started to snore.

   I woke up before the sunrise, pissed off and tired. He found me around 8 AM drinking coffee in the kitchen. His hair was a mess, he entirely looked like a mess. _A hot mess….Oh. My. GOD. THIS IDIOT WILL PAY FOR THIS. I WILL KILL HIM THIS TIME!! AND DON’T REMIND ME HOW MANY TIMES I SAID I’LL KILL HIM. I’LL KILL HIM THIS TIME FOR SURE!!_

    I didn’t even know why I was so angry with him. I mean, it’s not like he did it on purpose. He was drunk, everyone was and he did something stupid and I didn’t try to stop him. But no matter how much I tried to find excuses, I was so pissed off.  My head was pulsing and my blood was boiling. _Fuck my Fire chakra nature!_ I tried for so long to sort my feelings for him and give them a coherent form. And then, when I finally managed to find a way to talk to him and to Sakura, he decided to do something stupid and to kiss me. I was angry because somewhere in the back of my mind I knew why I haven’t stopped him. Because I didn’t want. _Because I liked it. I liked how his warm plump lips felt on mine._

   I looked at the kitchen table, trying to figure out if it was hard enough to break my skull if I wanted to smash it. The idiot decided it was the perfect moment to speak:

   “We need to talk” he said in a husky voice.

    “No, we don’t” I said, not even waiting to see if he actually remembered the kiss or it was something else he wanted to talk about.

    “Sasuke, we need to talk. We need to clean this up.”

    “Naruto” I growled “I don’t wanna talk to you. About anything”. My voice sounded too cold, almost lethal.

    He frowned and barked: “Of course, when did you ever wanted to talk about anything!? It’s better if you just get into your asshole role”.

   I smashed the coffee mug on the table in rage, the liquid and the broken pieces spilling everywhere. He was cornering me and I hated that. I stood up and screamed at him: “WHAT DO YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT NARUTO, HUH? HOW BIG OF AN IDIOT YOU ARE??”

    “WHY AM I AN IDIOT” he retorded, eyes on fire and fists clenching “WHY AM I AN IDIOT EVERYTIME I TRY TO SORT THINGS OUT?!”

   “BECAUSE I DON’T WANT TO TALK TO YOU. I DON’T LIKE ADRESSING THINGS. I DON’T LIKE SPILLING MY SHIT EVERYWHERE WAITING FOR SOMEONE’S PITIFUL ADVICE! I DON’T NEED ANYONE TO LISTEN TO ME!”

    I regretted the words the moment they were out, but that was that. It was done. The look in his eyes changed from anger to hurt. He watched me in disgust:

    “You don’t need anyone to listen to you, huh? What an asshole you are”.

    “Go fuck yourself.”

    I took my coat, put my shoes on and got out of the apartment. My hand was bleeding because of the mug, but I didn’t care. It was done. I felt suddenly hopeless, as I felt back in the days when I left Konoha. But if I was just hopeless I could manage somehow. The thing was I also felt guilt and some sort of shame.

   Shame because everyone knew how to deal with people and I was the same lonely guy who couldn’t maintain a conversation. I didn’t care what the villagers or the ninjas said, but I cared about my friends. I cared about Sakura. I cared about Kakashi. _I cared about Naruto._ And I felt bad and embarrassed every time they would try so hard to reach to me and I was shutting myself down. All those years of pain made me an emotionless bastard. After the fight with Naruto I felt relief, but that piece of relief was not enough to keep me through the days. Deciding that I wanted to be his friend and to help him maintain peace was one thing, but when I actually had to behave like a friend, talk like a friend and be a friend I struggled. It didn’t help that Naruto was a natural, that he managed to pull everyone like a magnet, to make them like him. It was like our rivalry was not about power anymore, but about who was a better friend between us two. And I was definitely losing again.

    Guilt was there because I knew how Naruto felt all those years. I knew what he felt for me. As a friend, I mean. I don’t know what made him kiss me that night. So I knew who he was, what it was between us and still I acted as an asshole because I didn’t know how to act otherwise. If I was different, things would have gone differently this morning. I could have made a joke and tell him how shitfaced he got last night and everything would have been ok. Instead, I decided I had to scream and kill his coffee mug…. _Well done Sasuke…_

    I went to Sakura’s office to clean my wound. She didn’t say a thing when she saw me coming in. She treated my hand, then sighted and said:

    “I am not going to ask why you two fight. But please tell me you didn’t break his head with a sake bottle or something.”

    I grimaced: “I just killed his coffee mug”.

    She seemed relieved, still her teal eyes scanned my face.

    “Sasuke. I really hope that one day you and Naruto will understand each other.”

    “We have already understood each other Sakura.. it’s just I don’t know how to deal with certain things.”

    “Did he do something that bothered you?”

_It pisses me off that the kiss bothered me too much (in reality) and not at all (in my head)._

    “No..it’s just..nevermind” I said, head shaking as if I was trying to make the memories of last night go away.

     “I need to get hospitalized to have that surgery. So please go to the apartment and take some clothes for me. Don’t tell him anything. I’ve said something this morning that I shouldn’t have and I don’t want to face him. I don’t want to regret more things.”

    She was surprised:

    “You are having a surgery Sasuke..are you sure you don’t want him to know? Or at least wait a few days? It’s too much your style doing things like this. You might hurt him even more.”

    I shook my head:

    “No, Sakura. I’ll go and apologize properly when I am as he wanted me to be. I know how much he wanted me to have the surgery. And I also need time to sort my thoughts. I know it’s childish, but I promise I’ll deal with this after.”

   Sakura didn’t seem convinced enough, but she sighted and told me she’ll go to pick my clothes. The day passed with the whole process of my hospitalization and I had the surgery for the prosthetic the next morning.

***

_ Naruto’s POV _

   I was beyond agitated so I kept measuring Sakura’s office. Door – ugly carpet – window- desk. Door-ugly carpet- window- desk.

   “Naruto, will you stop please? I am getting dizzy because of you.”

   I sat on the chair near her desk and started to play nervously with my zipper.

  “Listen, everything is going to be fine. You had this surgery too, it’s not that complicated” she added with that gentle smile of her. I lowered my eyes and muttered:

   “I’m not worried about the surgery…”

    She scowled:

    “Then what are you worried about?”

    I whined:

    “Saaakuura I did something pretty stupid. If Sasuke leaves the village it will be my fault.”

    “Oh shut up. What could you possibly have done to make him leave the village? Come on, Naruto”.

    I pondered if I should tell her or not, but as I was an idiot I just blurted:

   “I kissed him.”

    Silence. She was staring, thinking maybe it was one of my stupid jokes. Then she smacked me in the head:

   “YOU what??!”

   I rubbed that particular spot that was now painful and repeated:

   “I kissed him. I kissed him and I liked it.”

    She was shocked. Then she was confused. Then she became slightly amused and asked:

   “Were you drunk?”

   “I was tipsy…. But..”

   “But?” she encouraged.

   “But I knew what I was doing. I wanted to kiss him so I did it. The tipsy part was an excuse.”

   She folded her hands and put them under her chin, fixing me. She stayed like that long enough to make me agitated again. I groaned:

   “Please say something..”

   “What do you want me to say?”

   “That I am an idiot.”

   “Naruto, if I say you are an idiot I may be right, but you aren’t getting an answer that way. And I guess that’s what you want.”

   “But it’s Sasuke.” I facepalmed myself “I kissed Sasuke”.

   “Ook” she sighted “let’s break it down then. You kissed Sasuke. Did you want to?”

   “Yeah.”

   “Did you…liked it?”

   “…..

   “Be honest Naruto. Did you liked it? You said it before. You did, but I want you to say it again.”

   “I did, I liked it.”

   “Was it like…I don’t know..kissing Hinata?”

   “How do you know I kissed Hinata?”

   “How did you know Sasuke poked my forehead?”

   “That old man Kakashi likes gossping too much.”

   “So, Hinata. Was it like kissing Hinata?”

   “Nnn-no?”

   “Are you asking me?”

    “No. It was not like kissing Hinata” I raised my voice a bit exasperated. “It was better than kissing Hinata and he didn’t even moved his lips!!”

   Sakura started to chuckle, then the chuckle turned into laughter.

   “Are you making fun of me?” I wailed.

   “No” she said, wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes “but I think it’s pretty clear what’s going on.”

   I frowned. How was that clear?? I kissed Sasuke and I liked it. He was disgusted the next morning. We fought. He was an asshole. I was a dick. He left and then had the surgery to get a prosthetic arm. It didn’t made sense to me.

    “You are really dense, Naruto” Sakura said, poking my forehead.

    “I really don’t get it.”

   “You. Like. Sasuke” she said slowly, emphasizing every word.

   “I have always liked Sasuke.”

   “No, Naruto, you idiot” she smacked me again “you _like_ Sasuke as in how you liked me when we were kids. As I liked him when we were kids. Get it now?”

   “Ooooohhhh…OOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHH” I said eyes widening. “Waa-ait..but..how..is” I spluttered.

   Was she right about this? Did I….you kno…did I do it because I liked him? Like _like like_ him.”Argggghhhh” I groaned tugging my own hair and then hiding my face away from Sakura.

   “I suppose this means I was right” she said. I looked at her and stated:

   “You are not mad.”

   “Why would I be mad?” she gave me another warm smile with those beautiful gentle eyes.

   “Because..you kno…you…you liked him. Back then.”

   “Yes, back then. As in when I was 12.”

   “Come on Sakura, you liked him longer than that.”

   “We had this discussion already. Right? Like 3 years ago? Why are you bringing this up again?”

   “Cuz you are my friend. And I kissed the boy you fell in love with.”

   “Naruto” her look was now serious, her voice steady, similar to the one Iruka had when he was telling be something serious “I was in love with him, but I’m not anymore. He is like a brother to me now. You are like a brother to me now too. We are 21. It would be pretty stupid for me to still be infatuated with a boy I used to like when we both decided that it wasn’t working.”

    “Ok-ok” I said blushing “but it is weird. I kissed Sasuke. I kissed another boy.” I could feel that I turned into a tomato saying those words out loud.

   “Well, you feel this is weird because other people may say it’s weird or because you felt like that?”

    “Seriously…are you going to break down every single fact?”

   She raised her hands outraged “You are the one who doesn’t know how he feels! I’m trying to help. Do you want me just to state what I think and leave you in a damn confusion?!”

    I huffed “Maybe that would be better. I am so brain farting right now.”

    “Ok, Naruto. Time for me to spill the beans: I think you _like_ Sasuke as in _romantically_ ” she emphasized the words “and you kissed him because of that. I also think you are an idiot for doing things that way, not even knowing how he feels. He might have been confused too, which is why you two fought. Finally, you need to clean this mess up. As in fast. If you leave things like that I’m pretty sure you two idiots will fight again for something pretty serious and stupid in the same time.”

    I’d rather she smacked me again, instead of stating things that were sooooo embarrassing being stated out loud. I wanted to say something but the door opened and Grandma Tsunade came in:

   “We are do-“ I was ready to jump on her, but she covered my mouth with her hand “done and before you start to spit nonsense everywhere Sasuke is fine. You can see him in two hours. He is in ICU now.”

   “BBbbbbbut jhfsjkdfhsdfh” I mumbled her hand still on my mouth. She released me:

   “But I haven’t seen him in 6 hours.” I whined.

   She gave me that Sannin death stare and I shut my mouth before she hit me.

 

***

_ Back to Sasuke’s POV _

   When I came back to my senses my brain was identifying the surroundings at snail pace. Warm and uncomfortable bed. Some annoying rhythmic beep. Someone snoring near me. Hospital smell. An itchiness in my left arm. _Ah, the surgery._

   I opened my eyes and looked around. Near my waist someone was sleeping, head resting on folded arms. Blonde hair. Naruto. It was already evening and it was pouring rain outside. I shifted a bit and he suddenly raised his head, eyes sleepy. When he saw that I woke up he sighted:

   “Thanks God. A-a-are you ok? How do you feel? Does your arm hurts? What about your chest? Is it weird in any way?”

   I frowned. His tirade was going to give me a head ache. I groaned:

   “Naruto, slow down.”

   He stopped, taken aback. He scratched the back of his head again and smiled, embarrassed:

   “S-s-sorry.” He paused a bit scanning my face. “I’ll….I’ll get Grandma Tsunade.”

    He walked away before I could say something else.

    After a couple of minutes he came back with Tsunade-sama. She asked a couple of questions about how I felt generally, then about my arm:

   “Do you feel it?”

   “Yeah” I grimaced. “It’s damn itchy”.

   “The entire arm or just a part of it?”

   “Entire.”

   “Then it’s perfect. It may stay itchy like this for a day or two. Because of the itchiness you can move it, but the movements will be uncoordinated. When the itchiness it’s done it will get better.”

   I nodded. Naruto was paying extra attention, nodding too.

   Tsunade-sama added “Now Sasuke. The sensations that your brain will give about this arm may be different. From itchiness to a tickling feeling or hot/cold sensations. No pain. If you feel any pain you must tell me immediately and if you are home you must come right to the hospital, ok?”

   “Yeah.”

   “Ok then. The day after tomorrow you can go home. I’ll tell you more then. I’ll send Sakura to bring you dinner.” She turned to Naruto, pointing a finger at him:

“ **Don’t. annoy. Him**. Visiting hours were done a long time ago, get it?”

   He blushed a bit and nodded. She left.

   We stood in silence. He was sitting on the chair again, looking through the window. Droplets were spilled on the glass, wind blowing pretty hard. He suddenly cleared his throat and started to blush before even speaking:

   “About three days ago. I…I…I’m sorry.”

_Three days ago? Was I asleep for another day after the surgery?_

   He was looking me in the eye now, begging for any kind of reaction. I watched him for a bit. Blue eyes glimmering. Blonde soft hair that was not that spiky anymore. Long darker blonde eyelashes. _How could he have blonde eyelashes?_ Honey skin, probably two shades darker than mine.

   “I’m sorry too.” A pause “for what I said, I mean”.

   A lopsided smile:

   “We still need to talk, though”.

   I fidgeted:

   “When we are at home? Just the two of us. It’s damn embarrassing here if you want to talk about what I think you want to talk.”

   He blushed harder and whispered: “Agreed.”

   Sakura came in with one of those food carts that you see only in hospitals. She asked how I felt, but it was something disquieting in the way her eyes shifted from me to Naruto. I had to talk to her. She knew something. She helped me stand up and arranged my pillows. Food consisted in plain rice with some vegetables that I couldn’t recognize. When I wanted to reach for the chopsticks, both arms moved, which was confusing and it made me finally pay attention to my left arm. It looked just like Naruto’s. Bandages. Just by looking at it the itchiness grew. _God how I wanted to scratch that thing._

   Naruto suddenly said:

   “Don’t scratch. It will get worse.”

   I nodded. Sakura took notice of our little exchange and her eyes flickered with something that I couldn’t identify.

Naruto left after dinner. He told me that he can’t come the next day because he had an exam and then he had to set the sofa in the living room. We decided we’ll see each other the day after.

The next morning Kakashi visited me, then Shikamaru and Ino. They were all kinda excited that I decided to have the surgery. By the time of the dinner I felt tired because of so much conversation, but when Sakura came to bring me food again, I relaxed talking to her about ordinary things that have happened in the last 4 days.


	4. Guitars sound better in the living room

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeelllooo guys! Happy 1st of December!! :D I am so glad that it's one month left and 2018 will be over, cuz for me this year was a bitch. :)) So, putting this aside, chapter 4 is here and it is one of my favourite chapters because it was so much fun to write it. Beware, it contains a lot of fluff and cute flirting moments and cute Narusasu :D  
> Hope you'll enjoy it!  
> Also, the song that Naruto is playing is "Youth Rhapsody" by Sambomaster ("Naruto" opening 5) and from the first series is my fav opening. I feel like it tells so much about their relationship, that I wanted to include it in my story. It's not the only song that'll be featured :D and I hope you'll keep reading to find out what other song Naruto is playing.
> 
> PS: As always, thank you for your kind words and the feedback you leave everyweek for this fanfiction. Your words make this journey that is FSON so much better *blushes* *gives a wide smile just like Naruto's*

   In the morning I was discharged Naruto arrived pretty early. He looked more relaxed and he told me he think he passed the exam Iruka-sensei gave him, which meant he had only one more year to study. The tension between us was gone (because time solved it, not because we addressed things…duh!) and I hoped we would be able to avoid any other type of conflict (even if the past conflict was still unsolved..duh again!).

   Sakura came to help us with the papers and gave me indications about what I was allowed to do with my arm and what I wasn’t, what should I eat and stuff. It annoyed me that I couldn’t lift things for 2 months and couldn’t use Chidori for 4. But Naruto and Sakura were so happy that I had the surgery and I didn’t want to ruin the mood again. Naruto insisted to carry my bag, although I protested a bit.

   The walk to the apartment was silent, mostly because it was cold outside, as in late November cold, with freezing wind that made your eyes tear and your nose runny.

   When I entered the apartment I sighted in relief. It was warm and it smelled like green tea. I took my shoes off and told Naruto I need to take a proper shower. It turned to be quite an adventure to wash myself with that prosthetic because I couldn’t grab things properly or I was using my right arm too much, simply forgetting that I had a left arm now. I wondered if Naruto felt the same. Probably not. I could imagine him laughing like crazy because of the stupid things his arm was doing. I got dressed in a loose black long sleeve and loose grey workout pants.

   I found Naruto in the living room, cleaning one of the bookshelves that he had there. The new sofa was in a pale orange colour (figures!), but it contrasted nicely with his baby blue walls. (The walls in his bedroom had a cerulean shade. The colour of his eyes followed me everywhere.)

  The living room was not bigger than the bedroom, but the lighting was better here because Naruto had a huge window door for the balcony. The bookshelf occupied the wall between the right corner of the room and the window door. On the left wall he had a wardrobe where he kept winter clothes, shoes and some of his ninja tools. In front of the sofa was a coffee table that he probably bought along with it. It was simple and cozy.

   What caught my attention was a guitar bag near the bookshelf that I haven’t seen until now. He turned and saw me staring. I sat on the sofa and asked:

   “Is that a guitar bag?”

   He suddenly got embarrassed and with a lopsided smile said:

   “Y-yeah.”

   I blinked:

   “Why do you have a guitar?”

   “Because I play the guitar.”

   “You play the guitar?” I asked incredulously.

   “Yeah.” Noticing my confusion he explained: “After I got the prosthetic my fingers were uncoordinated. Like really uncoordinated. They all moved in the same direction or I couldn’t grab things properly. Grandma Tsunade said that it was just a phase, but two months passed and I was still a mess. So she said it was better if I trained my fingers. It was rather the guitar or a shamisen. I picked the first one.”

   I couldn’t believe my ears. Naruto Uzumaki was playing the guitar.

   “And like…you..took classes?”

   “Yeah” he took the bag and sat on the sofa near me “for 6 months or so. I had a teacher and everything. But it turned into a hobby. You kno, I was all morning in the Academy, then training or spending time with Kakashi-sensei to clean the mess after the war. I had time for myself only in the evening and when I didn’t have to learn I would play the guitar.”

   “You played the guitar for 3 years and a half?”

   He chuckled: “Why are you so shocked?”

   I racked my uncoordinated fingers through my hair: “I don’t know. I can’t picture you playing the guitar.”

   He suddenly got excited:

   “Do you want to hear it?”

   I raised my eyebrows:

   “What? You playing the guitar?”

   “Me singing, Sasuke” he said with a cocky smile.

   He took the guitar out of the bag, the neck in his right hand and the body in his left. I realised he was holding it in the wrong way, but probably because he had wanted his right hand to be the one which played the fingerboard to solve the coordination problem. He closed his eyes first, then plucked the strings and he tapped his left foot to maintain the rhytm. The melody was pretty fast and kind of sad. Then my brain melted because he started to sing in a low _sexy_ voice:

_“I'm connecting the words that had gone stale_

_Though we just want to convey our simple feelings_

_The somber wind that blew on that day_

_Is abandoning the ruins of yesterday_

_So I can smile and live with you_

    I suddenly felt my face getting hot and a strong shiver went directly to my spine and made the hair on my neck stand up. _Oh holy shit!!!!_

_But then, doesn't that incident torment you?_

_That's why this is goodbye”_

   My stomach started to flutter. _Butterflies? Am I having butterfies listening to Naruto playing the guitar??? OH.MY.GOD.THIS IS IT PEOPLE, I’VE LOST IT COMPLETELY. DO YOU SMELL THE POTENT ODOR OF SOMETHING BURNT? DON’T WORRY, IT’S MY BRAIN…._

   Scratch the “low sexy voice” part, because he could sign higher too:

 

_“As it is I'll only share things with you_

_And before long we'll realize that that's everything_

_My sadness flows down my cheeks and becomes just a river of tears_

_These trembling feelings strongly swirl and melt together!”_

 

   He stopped and opened his eyes, looking straight into my soul. I was dumbfounded. I couldn’t think of anything, except the sudden urge to kiss him. He put the guitar away and when he turned to me again I smashed my lips on his and grabbed his hair. He froze at first, but when I started to move my lips he moved too. It wasn’t something violent and sloppy, even if I grabbed him pretty hard, not knowing how else I could start this. His lips were just like before, soft and plump and warm. It wasn’t a kiss like the one from our childhood, but it wasn’t an open-mouthed sexual mess either. I didn’t know how to kiss like that and I didn’t want to. It was something natural, like a slow dance that my lips knew only when they touched his. His hands worked their way up to my shoulders and I started playing with his hair. That’s when he stopped kissing and I did it too. Our foreheads touched, chests rising and falling in the same rhythm. He sighted and hummed:

   “Now we really need to talk, Sasuke.”

   I opened my eyes and released his hair. He catched my prosthetic arm with his prosthetic arm and hold it, straightening his position. It crossed my mind that what I wanted in that moment was that the ground would open and swallow me. But nothing happened, so I figured I couldn’t get away from that.

   “I don’t know what to say, Naruto”, my voice kinda strangled. His azure eyes had a glassy texture and his hair was a bit ruffled from my previous game. He shrugged:

   “I guess it’s uncomfortable for both of us, but I don’t think it is a good idea to leave things like this.”

   Since when was he so eloquent?

   I pinched my nose with my right hand, the other one still being held by Naruto. I hoped he didn’t let go.

   “I…..guess you’re right.”

   Silence. We didn’t know who could start first. I didn’t want because my brain was still in a muddy state, not being able to form phrases that made sense.

   He chuckled:

   “Since I was the first who kissed, I’ll start…..um…..” he scratched the back of his neck with his free hand and I was kinda relieved that he was still holding mine. “I guess I wanted to kiss you that night. I wasn’t that shitfaced. I just wanted to and I did it…and I’m sorry if I offended you or if you are disgusted or something.”

   Disgusted? If I had been disgusted I wouldn’t have kissed him again.

   I shook my head, deciding it was better if I was honest. Otherwise shit might spread everywhere.

   “I wasn’t disgusted….” a grimace “just surprised.”

   He smiled shyly:

   “Y-yeah…”

   “So…ummm…..I kissed you earlier because I…wanted to. And I’m sorry for what I said that morning…”

   Silence again. His shy smile from before turned into a full one. He pulled me by the arm he held into a hug, hiding his nose in the crook of my neck. He smelled like oranges again. I hugged him too and added jockingly:

   “I am not dating you, though”.

   He pulled away and looked at me, smiling mischeviously and wiggling his eyebrows:

   “Then I am not kissing you again”.

   He was such an idiot, but I wanted to play this game with him.

   “Tsch, you can’t afford not kissing me again” I smirked.

   “What are you talking about? If I hadn’t kissed you first you wouldn’t have known how good it feels to kiss me” he retorted.

   I shook my head:

   “You are an idiot.”

   He wiggled his eyebrows again, invading my personal space:

   “If you date me I’m gonna be _your_ idiot” he laughed seeing that I flinched when he leaned in.

   “Isn’t it weird for you?” I asked suddenly.

   He was putting the guitar back into the bag:

   “Is it weird for you?”

   “I asked you first.”

   He finished closing the bag and turned to me, face serious:

   “The day you had the surgery I talked to Sakura. I know you’ll kill me for this, but I had to talk to someone. I told her I kissed you and that I felt it was wrong. Like it wasn’t fair for you.  I thought it was weird, but then she helped me. She asked me if it was weird for me or it was weird because I thought other people may say it was. And I realised that for me it wasn’t weird. Because it’s you.”

   I don’t know what was with him that day, but he kept surprising me.

   “Since when are you so smart?”

   He chuckled:

   “Ask me any other thing and I am as stupid as I’ve always been.”

   Actually, Naruto wasn’t that stupid as he thought. He was crafty, in fights and in interactions. It was a different type of intelligence than mine, but it was still intelligence. Besides, he was always unpredictable, which was an advantage.

   “So, are we dating?” he said.

   I exhaled:

   “I don’t think I am pretty good at dating.”

   “And do you think I am?” he added with a grin.

   “No?”

   “Exactly, but I want to try. If you are up for it, of course.”

   “How do you date another man?”

   He pursed his lips:

   “What if we don’t call it dating and we do what we usually do?”

   “You mean fighting and trying to kill each other? That doesn’t sound like a good idea.”

   He gave me an eye roll and nudged my knee:

   “I mean being friends, Sasss-ke.”

   “Hmphh, friends don’t kiss Naruto.”

   “Then we will be friends that kiss each other. Problem solved.” He looked proud of his solution.

  “Tschh”

   He shrugged again and smiled at me. I smirked back and a sudden peace hit me. It was similar with the one that hit me after our fight years ago, when I finally accepted that I lost. That peace that tells you everything it’s going to be ok. That peace that tells you someone is going to be there. That warm peace that only Naruto could trigger in me with his warm childish smile. We both turned to watch the window and it was snowing. Little puffy flakes were floating in all directions, fluffy clouds above.

  “Are you hungry? Do you want some tea?” he asked, standing up.

   My stomach growled. I grimaced:

   “Both.”

   “Ok. Stay here” he said when I tried to get up “I’ll bring tea and some toast”.

   While he was away, rummaging in the kitchen I stood in the living room, eyes fixed on the white sky. How easy things were with Naruto if I didn’t push him away and let him do what he wanted, when his impulses were good. I guess it was about compromise or it was something that belonged only to us. Or, this state of things was the real one, it was how things could have been if the war and the pain wouldn’t have changed us. Maybe this Sasuke that flirted and joked with Naruto earlier was the real Sasuke. _I’ve just realised I flirted with Naruto earlier. Ohhh sweet Sage of Six Paths, I’m turning into an idiot._

   He came back with two mugs of steamy green tea and toast for both of us. I asked him about the questions in the exam and what else he had to do to become Hokage. It seemed the next year was the hardest, as he had to learn all this heavy subjects like politics, diplomacy, war strategies and philosophy. Then, the next step was him being Kakashi’s apprentice and fulfilling the missions required to become Jounin. And then, depending on that, he would finally become Hokage.

    I was kinda overwhelmed by the number of steps he had to take, because when I had left I thought they are just going to let him become Hokage. After everything he did in the war. But Kakashi and Tsunade were particular about the future Hokage’s education. Which Naruto considered fairplay. He didn’t want to be taken for granted. I personally thought he was a good leader, even by the end of the war. I wouldn’t be that kind of leader, but for someone who was inspired by the First and the Third Hokage’s teachings and Jiraiya’s, he was pretty good.

   “Aren’t you afraid you’re going to get bored? By all this steps I mean.”

   “I was serious when I said I want to make all ninjas get along. Besides, I’m not a kid anymore.”

   “I think you are” I teased.

   He tilted his head “You kno, probably I am still a kid. But I am not that _dead-last_ kid anymore. Which probably means somewhere along the way I became stronger than I was before…I guess”.

   I stared at him. To me, he was the same kid. The same agitated idiotic kid. The same kid who said he will become Hokage all day long. The same annoying brat. What changed was that when I had watched him as a kid his way of doing things hadn’t made any sense to me and I had been sure he was going to be a failure. But as he kept on moving forward I realised his path might take him closer and closer to his dream. Like his path had always been the right one, it was my own limited mind which didn’t accept that he was going to succeed. The dead-last Naruto had always been right. It was us, the rest who thought he was wrong. And when the chaos ended he managed not only to bring peace, but to show us all that he was right.

   I suddenly remembered the lyrics from the song he played:

   “What was with that song?”

   He seemed confused:

   “What was with it?”

   “The lyrics I mean….” I felt too warm suddenly. Afraid that I might be blushing I blurted: “was it about us?”

   He chuckled:

   “You figured. It’s called ‘Youth Rhapsody’. I…” he hesitated “I wrote it.”

   If it hadn’t been so “not me” my mouth would have fell open:

   “You…wrote...a…song…about us?” I repeated slowly.

   “Y-yeah” he confirmed, blushing now furiously. I think he felt the need to explain because he went on: “Remember when you left the village to go to Orochimaru? It kinda..I don’t kno…it hurt. And looking back at the end of the story I realized that thing really marked my childhood. That retrieval mission and the fight we had.” He paused a bit to inhale, embarrassement now gone. “But without that we wouldn’t be where we are today, so I wrote a song about it.”

   He stood up and went to the bookshelf, grabbing a notebook and flipping through pages. He found what he was looking for and gave me the notebook, pointing the page. On his ugly writing was the entire song, here and there words or phrases crossed out and others added above or near with red:

 _“I'm connecting the words that had gone stale_  
Though we just want to convey our simple feelings   
The somber wind that blew on that day   
Is abandoning the ruins of yesterday   
So I can smile and live with you

_But then, doesn't that incident torment you?  
That's why this is goodbye_

_As it is I'll only share things with you_  
And before long we'll realize that that's everything   
My sadness flows down my cheeks and becomes just a river of tears   
These trembling feelings strongly swirl and melt together!

 _Things like irritation and a little bit of loneliness_  
What do they mean to us?   
We're not in the middle of a drama now   
"Hey, what's up?"   
Even if we could turn back to that voice, no one would be there, would they?   
This is why we cry so loudly

_But then, will our voices even reach anything?  
That's why this is goodbye_

_Again time goes on; I'll only share it with you_  
And before long we'll realize that that's everything   
My sadness flows down my cheeks and becomes just one line poem   
These trembling feelings strongly swirl and melt together!

 _As it is there isn't anything except what we share_  
And then you'll realize that the present is everything   
My sadness flows down my cheeks and becomes just a river of tears   
And then we become the pale sea and melt together!”

   Reading the entire song was a strange experience. Naruto was good at talking about feelings. He didn’t hate words like me. Silence scared him. However, although I knew how he was, I had never seen him like this. He poured his soul in that song and what made my stomach clench was that what he felt back then was so similar to what I felt. The difference was that I had never spoken about my feelings. He did. He even wrote a song about it.

   “Do you write songs?”

   He grimaced, nose scrunching:

   “Sometimes. But 80% of them are bad. I have just one song besides this one that I like, but I’ll sing to you another time” and he winked, making me fumble with the notebook.

   Then he barked a laugh and I felt a sudden urge to punch him.

 

   We literally spent the morning teasing each other, thing that I secretly enjoyed. When all the walls were down, Naruto was actually _flirty_. Not in an aggressive annoying way. He was cute. And it melted my brain so bad that I was thinking all kind of sappy bullshit about him. _Did they do something to my brain during the surgery?_

   I also found out that during my absence he had emptied one of his drawers and arranged my clothes. And the house smelled like clean again.

   “Do you pay someone to clean your house?”

   He laughed at me:

   “Why would I do that? I clean myself.”

   “You’re a girl” I teased.

   “I am a strong independent woman” he retorded, high pitched voice and eyelashes fluttering. I snorted.

  It snowed all day, so he said he wasn’t going anywhere. Especially because it was his free day. So after lunch we played cards and he insisted to play with some sort of rubber ball, to help my prosthetic. I kept saying no until he hit me with that damn ball in my head and I fought back. Because I lost that game, due to my uncoordinated arm, he said I have to accept anything he wanted me to do. The idea scared the crap out of me because I could see him asking for something perverted and I didn’t know if I was ready for it. He went to the bedroom and came back with a pink hair clip that he used to move my fringe away from my Rinnegan eye:

   “Mei gave me this for you” he beamed.

   I gave him an annoyed look, but I didn’t threw the clip away. I was a man of word, _thank you very much_.

   “How do you actually know that kid?”

   “I was looking for Iruka-sensei about 2 years ago. He hadn’t been in his office so I went to the kindergarden when they had told me I could have found him. Mei was one of those lonely girls. And I liked her. I made her laugh and she kept searching for me at the Academy since then.” He smiled pensively and added:

   “She is Ayame’s adoptive daughter.”

   “Ayame as in Teuchi-san’s daughter?”

   “Yeah.”

   “She’s cute” I observed.

   “And because of that you’ll wear that clip all day”.

   “That was not part of the deal.”

   “Dhat – waz - not- parth- of –the- deal” he imitated me “You’ll wear it anyway.”

 

***

   The next morning I woke up with Naruto sleeping again too close to me, his nose hiding in the crook of my neck. This time I didn’t push him away. Instead I took a deep breath of the citrusy smell of his hair and then kissed the top of his head just because I could.

   “I’m slleeeeeeping” he moaned like a child.

   “You are an idiot. You need to get up to go check your exam results” I retorded. He made a scene of the entire waking up process, until I smacked him in the head just like Sakura would have done and he pouted.

   We ate breakfast and after I put my winter sandals on (because the snow had already 7 cm), he stopped at the door, a stupid crooked smile on his face:

   “Will you kiss me goodbye?” he said, leaning in.

   I pushed his face away “what are you talking about, you idiot?! I’m not kissing you. Like ever.”

   “But Saaasss-keeee” he moaned “you said we are dating.”

   I teased “I have never agreed with such a thing”.

   “Saaaaaasssss-keeeee” this time his voice raised an octave.

   I kissed him on the cheek and opened the door:

   “Now cut the crap or I’ll swear I’m gonna kill you” I warned him.

   “I’m satisfied” he said flirty.

   He went to the Academy to talk with Iruka-sensei, while I went to talk to Kakashi. When I entered his office, he and Sakura, who was drinking a cup of steaming coffee, both tensed. As I was taking my jacket off Kakashi teased:

   “Hmmmmm something good happened to you, Sasuke. You’re glowing”.

   “WHAT?!” I retorted, voice lethal.

   “Come on, Sasuke, it’s written all over your face.”

   I was sooooo annoyed. Like remember when I laughed at this guy and told him I had been itching to kill him? Yeeeeah, I felt like that in that moment.

   Sakura, who observed our sarcastic exchange stood up and grabbed my arm, snorting:

   “Come on, Sassy Pants, let’s have a coffee”.

   She literally dragged me out of the Hokage’s office, my eyes probably throwing fire.

   After I cooled off a bit she asked:

   “So, what happened?”

   “What happened?”

   “Come on, Sasuke. You are glowing indeed.”

   “This is stupid” I growled “do I have glitter on my face? Why you all say I’m glowing?”

   “Because you are, that’s why” she teased “so, how is Naruto?” she went on, eyebrows rising in expectative.

   I wanted to smack her too, but she was my best friend, beside Naruto:

   “He is fine.”

   “Just fine?” she pushed.

   “Sakura, what do you want to know specifically?”

   “How was the kiss?” she grinned.

   “What makes you believe there was a kiss?” I defended, voice as impassible as I could.

   “You’re eyes are twitching, Sasuke. I know there was a kiss, so cut the crap and tell me everything” she observed.

   “TSCH….” I rolled my eyes “It was…fine…I guess.”

   “I guess what you mean it’s that you liked it.”

   “You already seem to know everything, why are you asking me for details?” I barked.

   “Because I want to hear you saying it.” She sticked her tongue out.

   “Fuck off.”

   “I’m hurt, Sas—ke” she whined, imitating Naruto’s way of calling me.

   “Sakura, I swear-“ and I refrained myself.

   She laughed. After an embarrassing silence I asked:

   “Am I gay?”

   It was another pause then she started to laugh hysterically and I wanted to kill myself because we were in the center of the village and everyone was staring. It took her 2 full minutes to stop the crap until she asked, wiping her tears off:

   “How do you know what a gay is Sasuke?”

   I raised an eyebrow:

   “I know more things than you, Sakura.”

   “Ohh, come on, Sassy Pants, I’m serious now. How do you know?”

   I exhaled:

   “Karin and Suigetsu”.

   Her look encouraged me to go on so I said:

   “I formed Hebi, with Karin, Suigetsu and Juugo after I defeated Orochimaru, remember?”

   “Yeah..kinda”.

   “Well, they were two idiots bigger than Naruto. One day they were having this stupid conversation about Orochimaru’s sexual preferences. Suigetsu kept saying he was gay, while Karin kept smacking him, telling him that it was stupid. Because I was deeply annoyed by their stupidity I asked what a gay was. They both laughed at me, then Suigetsu explained. And that’s how I know. End of story.”

   “So, if you know what a gay is, why are you asking me?”

   “Because you seem to be very observant lately” I bantered with her.

   She grinned:

   “Are you attracted by other men?”

   “No.”

   “Women?”

   “No.”

   “So, it’s just Naruto?”

   “Y-y-yeah….” I whispered.

   “Then you’re gay for Naruto” she concluded. Another session of her hysterical laugh followed.

   After she calmed down I said, this time tone serious:

   “You don’t seem surprised..”

   “About what? You and Naruto?”

   I nodded.

   She ran her fingers to her pink hair and looked me in the eye:

   “You know Sasuke, I have always thought that you and him had something special. It was a bond that survived even when you tried so hard to sever it. It made him chase you all around the world and it made you chase him too. And no matter how much hatred and anger and pain you tried to inflict in this bond, at the end of it all it was stronger that it had ever been. So, I don’t know if I should be surprised that this bond started to grow in this direction - of something that is romantic. I was always close to you and close to him. Especially in the last years. And I am grateful that you and him kept a place in your friendship for me. I don’t know how much you cherish my friendship or my advice, but the only thing that I have to say about this is: _be happy_. Make this work and be happy. It will make Naruto happy too.”

   She finished her speech with a gentle smile. I looked at her, her pink hair a splash of warm colour in that frozen day. I reached and poked her forehead, the gesture - a memory of what Itachi used to do. I had done it to her before, but now I hoped she understood that this was my way of telling her that I am fully committed to our friendship this time. And that she was important for me. It didn’t work between us, but it didn’t mean that we couldn’t be friends. Sakura was my friend.

   She blushed after I touched her forehead and pulled me into a strong hug. It took me by surprise, but when she let go I smirked. This was the easy part. The hardest part was to make me and Naruto work, when we had no idea how relationships worked. It scared me and fear was making me angry. We used to fuck up things in the past because we had so much expectations from each other and we have never spoken about them out loud. In that cold and white November day I knew one thing for sure – that I didn’t want to end what me and Naruto had before we’ve even started.


	5. Blood pressure or photographic memory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys! First of all, thank yoooooouuuuuuu for the feedback of chapter 4. ^_^ Honestly, when I've decided to post this I've never thought I'll get any kudos or comments. So, yeeah *blushes*  
> Now, about chapter 5: the song that Naruto is playing is "Diver"- NCO Touches The Walls ("Naruto Shippuden" opening 8) and I'm obsessed with it. I feel like it tells so many things about Naruto, but also about me at a personal level. Hope you'll like that scene.  
> Also, things are moving between our boys and next week...um...you'll see. Please remember that I rated this fanfiction explicit *insert evil laugh here*  
> Have a nice week guys and don't forget I appreciate any feedback you leave. <3  
> PS: Almost forgot, I have a tumblr (https://fromseoul2tokyo.tumblr.com/), so if you waant to check that out or send me messages there I'll try my best to answer. My dashboard it's a mess of anime and Kpop, but whatever. I'll leave this here just in case you want to communicate on a different platform than AO3. :D

   The rest of the month turned into a muddy mass in my memories - a mess, just like Naruto’s hair in the morning. Too many things happened in such a rush. It gave me the feeling you have when you are into a crowd and from a certain point it gets uncomfortable. I didn’t hate those moments, but I wish their rhythm had slowed down.

   My brother used to say that the Sharingan gave the user a photographic memory. It made me think of that month, because I was sure I could have cut my favourite moments, I could have separated them from all the other fragments of past and make a collage out of it.

   One of those moments was a rather embarrassing experience me and Naruto shared. One day I came back from Kakashi’s office and went to the apartment to eat. I knew Naruto had a long day at the Academy and he had told me he wouldn’t have lunch. But, when I got into the apartment I heard the water running in the bathroom and figured he came to take a shower. I sat on the bed, ruffling the “Ramen at Home Recepies” to find inspiration for lunch. Suddenly, the door of the bathroom flew open and a naked and wet Naruto came out, disoriented and cursing that he forgot the towel and his clothes.

   I froze and when he saw me I could swear I heard his blood getting colder and colder in his veins. That fleeting second he stood there was what my brain decided to keep as a perfect memory. My eyes fixed on one droplet of water which wandered from his neck, down to his defined chest, lower to his abs and then past his navel and down his… My breath hitched - Naruto looked _good_ as in _you could eat him out…or I could eat him out. WAIT, WHAT?!_ or was I so surprised because I had never seen him completely naked since I came back? I don’t know, but his honey skin and those sculpted abs and broad shoulders, that body that was trained enough (he didn’t go overboard with the weights) made me swallow my saliva. All in that fleeting second.

   Then he screamed, hiding his “instruments” with his hands:

   “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!”

   “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, I LIVE HERE?!”

   His neck snapped around trying to find his clothes. The idiot had forgotten them on the chair near his drawer. He kept barking while he fetched the clothes:

   “I DIDN’T KNOW YOU’LL BE HOME, YOU ASSHOLE!!”

   “ASSHOLE?! YOU IDIOT, IT IS NOT MY FAULT YOU’VE SUDDENLY DECIDED YOU WANT TO BECOME A NUDIST” I said, trying to refrain a violent session of hysterical laughter. He blushed all the way down his neck, turned around and slammed the door of the bathroom, still mumbling curses. I started to chuckle silently and then remembered that my eyes caught a glimpse of his round firm _ass_. It was also the moment I admitted I was attracted to him in that way, otherwise I wouldn’t have stared at his naked, wet, _sexy_ body.

   I couldn’t believe myself, I was _attracted_ to Naruto, as in I liked to see him naked and started to imagine doing things with him. That was a bad idea. _A very bad idea_. My hormones had been dead for years and came back to life after that incident. Which lead to some other embarrassing episodes.

 

   In one night I woke up around 3 AM not being able to breathe properly due to a huge pressure on my chest. I realized Naruto was sprawled all over me, his head on my left shoulder. The fabric there was drenched in his drool. _The fuck?!_ The entire thing wouldn’t have bothered me that much if it wasn’t for his hips suddenly pushing into mine and him moaning something. I have never experienced stupid things like wet dreams and shit, but the moment he moaned and moved over me I got hard instantly, to the point I wasn’t feeling arousal, but pain. I called him, voice hoarse:

   “Naruto, wake up!”

   Nothing. He actually moved again and through the tiny fabric of our sleeping pants I felt his own arousal rubbing mine. _FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!_

   This time my voice sounded harsh and I barked:

   “NARUTO, GET AWAY FROM ME!”

   He jerked and opened his eyes with a moan. It took him a few seconds to understand where he was and what was happening. But he didn’t move, not in the way I wanted him to. His eyes sparkled, but what I found there was something that scared me – desire. That kind of desire that corrupts your mind and makes you wish for bodies and movements instead of people. I was starting to doubt my own self-control. It was all in Naruto’s hands at that time and he decided he wanted to test me. He gave an experimental push to our hips and I lost it completely. I grabbed his waist and flipped us over. He fell on the bed with a plop. I straddled him and pinned his arms above his head, pushing them into the mattress.

   He was dumfounded completely, lust gone from his eyes. I leaned in, my mouth one breath away from his and I growled:

   “ **Don’t.test.me.Naruto** ”.

   I jumped out of the bed and straight into the bathroom. When I watched the face in the mirror I couldn’t recognize it. Hair a bird’s nest, breath ragged and my right eye red with Sharingan. I couldn’t remember activating it. I sit on the toilet trying to calm down. It wasn’t just my breath that had trouble, but my hands too. They were shaking like crazy. _What the hell?!_ I stood there, waiting for the bulge in my pants to go away. It took me some time, because I kept thinking how good it felt to have him pressed against me like that. After 20 minutes I heard him knocking the door:

   “Sasuke” his voice sounded embarrassed “I’m sorry. Please come back to bed.”

   I came back in the room to find him on his side of the bed in fetal position. He didn’t move and I wondered if he fell asleep. When the bed moved under my weight he turned to face me. We just stood there looking at each other, until his left hand’s fingers fluttered across my cheek.

   “I’m sorry I was an idiot” he said, before leaning in and kissing me slowly and innocently. I kissed him back and I wanted to talk to him, to tell him that I wasn’t upset. I just… I didn’t know how to do those things with him. Not just because I have never thought about them until that point, but because he was a man. I mean, I could figure what went where, but that wasn’t the problem. The problem was how and when. How and when so that I didn’t ruin what we had.

***

   I also started to think about leaving again and searching for those Kaguya’s remnants far to the North. My hand was not fully usable yet, but I could manage just with my left arm. Besides, we didn’t even know where this thing was going. Where could possibly take us? Marriage? Kids? Those where out of the question. I started to wonder if he wanted me the way I wanted him, the way I had felt I wanted him that night or he just did what he did to see my reaction. It should have been better if we spoke about those things, but I was afraid we might end up fighting again.

   A few days after the “boner incident” I went to speak to Kakashi about the possibility to leave again:

   “Are you sure you want to leave now? Aren’t you a bit hasty?”

   “Hasty?” I raised an eyebrow “no, I don’t think I am. I mean, you do realize it has to be done.”

   He leaned in his chair:

   “I know it has to be done, Sasuke. I wonder why you suddenly decided it has to be done _now_..”

   He was a sly old man and he knew what he was talking about.

   “It’s not good for Naruto’s future to have me around. To be here, in Konoha.”

   Kakashi’s eye flickered:

   “What made you do think that way? I told you your name has been cleared.”

   I shook my head a bit and gave him a bitter smile:

   “Our name will never be cleared completely. Not until I will be punished, at least.”

   “Your punishment it’s not your decision. I could have punished you three years ago, despite Naruto’s wish. But I didn’t because I believed in him and his judgement. Why don’t you?”

   I started to get frustrated:

   “You know what I am talking about. It’s not that I don’t trust him. But not all the people think like him.”

   “His friends do think like him. His teachers do think like him. And the villagers who saw him fighting for them think like him.”

   I groaned:

   “You’re impossible.”

   “No, I think you are. _What are you afraid of, Sasuke_?”

   I looked him in the eye. The question was a trap. It was not about what I was afraid of literally. With my powers I wasn’t afraid of anything, not even death. I looked death in the eye so many times that I didn’t care anymore. What he meant was why I was afraid being with Naruto. I knew he knew about us. Sakura might have told him or he figured it on his own from seeing me being around Naruto. Nothing changed in our everyday interactions, as far as I was aware, but I guess he just figured out.

   Because he got no answer from me he said:

   “Follow Naruto’s will and trust him. He is not that stupid as people say and he is not that dense either. He just want to do things right and sometimes the right way is not the easiest one. Sometimes is the hardest. But, there is one thing that I think you don’t know.” He crossed his arms and went on:

   “If you want to follow Naruto trust isn’t the only thing you need. You need to let your walls down a bit, Sasuke. Otherwise, you’ll get stuck in the past again.”

   “My walls have nothing to do with Naruto” I retorted.

   “They have, Sasuke. You don’t let him in. And if you won’t let him in you’ll hurt him in the end.”

   I hated the discussion because I knew these words meant what I thought they meant. Kakashi knew and he encouraged this, but for God’s sake, it was outrageous in a way.

   “Where are you morals?” I asked him.

   He snorted:

   “My morals mean nothing in this situation.”

   I pushed:

   “Tsch, what if other people would start to question your morals?”

   “Why are you so enraged?”

   My fists clenched:

   “Because...” I refrained.

   He cleared his voice:

   “Ok Sasuke, enough with the subtext. You want to hear me saying this out loud? Fine, I’ll say it.”

   His tone was the one that he used when he was scolding us back in the days. That tempo, almost military which was meant to make you understand where you were wrong and why.

   “What you and Naruto decide on this matter, as in what happens to you two it’s not people’s business, whoever they are. Villagers, daymios, politicians. As long as what you do with your leadership roles is not affected. You want to leave to the North? Leave, but don’t _run_. If you let this start, and I am sure you did because he wouldn’t have pushed without your permission, then assume responsibility for it. I have never taught you to be irresponsible and you have never been. Not even in your Rogue days. You knew what revenge was and you accepted the fact that people hate you. You didn’t care, yes, but you accepted it. Do the same thing right now. If you got into this you have two options: tell him it was wrong or keep on doing what you do. But, if you let him think everything is fine and you actually don’t believe it, you’ll deceive him and something tells me that after all these years this is the last thing you want to do.”

   I let those words of his settle in my mind. This was serious, this was real. Somehow along the way I took this path in life. It might have started when I met Naruto the first time or after, when he became my friend. Now, he was not just a friend anymore, he was something more than that, but he was also the future of this world. And I didn’t know if it was good for him to walk this path of his future along with me.

   The end of the month was a disaster as in shit happened. Naruto found out that I was thinking to leave again and we bit each other asses for days. I slept on the couch, he didn’t say bye before leaving for the Academy. Awkward silence during the evenings.

   This was us, when things were fine we were all over each other. But when we fought, it got pretty bad. Well, the truth is if I had told him how I felt, things would have ended differently. But I kept silence, stubborn as I was and he did it too.

   One frozen morning while I was in Kakashi’s office his councilors came in to talk about my investigation on Kaguya. Spending time with those two was not my cup of tea. Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane were the ones who silently agreed on Itachi’s sacrifice and the downfall of my clan. They were also the ones who insisted before the war to keep Naruto hidden and not to let him fight against Akatsuki. Bullshit. Why Kakashi still kept them as a part of Konoha’s Council? _Fuck me if I knew_. But because it could get pretty bad if I said something on the matter, I’ve decided to keep my mouth shut.

   They asked the basic questions of when, where and why and kept glacing at me. Half an hour into our discussion and Naruto came in.

   “Ah, Naruto-kun” Homura said “we were talking about Sasuke’s future journey to the North. We need to clean the world of any Kaguya’s remnants”.

   I could see him tensing the moment he heard the word “journey”. He sat down near Kakashi and me, while the two councillors were on the other side of the table. His eyes flickered:

   “I am very much aware of this matter, but he doesn’t have to leave now.”

   “He has to leave as soon as possible” Koharu retorted.

   “Kaguya was defeated. If there had been something menacing I’m sure Sasuke would have noticed with his Rinnegan” Kakashi added.

   The geezer shook his head:

   “Kakashi, he _has_ to leave.”

   Naruto snapped:

   “Why does he has to leave? He is the one who decides if he leaves or not.”

   “Naruto-kun!” Koharu barked “He has to leave because he can’t stay.”

   “Why the hell he isn’t allow to stay?” he barked back. I could feel him getting angrier and angrier with every word those two fuckers were spitting. I was just getting bored with their shit. They had always talked like this about us. Like we were some sort of war machines that they could order around.

   “His situation is still unclear after the war. We cannot trust him completely.” Homura observed.

   In a matter of seconds Naruto leaned in and banged his right fist on the table, which cracked and turned into pieces. Anger flashed in his eyes. With a growl that reminded me of the days we used to fight and the Kyuubi took control over him he said:

   “ _You_ have nothing to say about how much he is trusted. Also, _you have nothing to say_ about how long he can stay.”

   He was trying not to curse and to keep this in the polite, kinda neutral side of things, scratch the broken table. But his jaw clenched and his eyes were sharp. He could definitely kill someone on the spot.

   Homura pushed:

   “We have every right to talk on this matter. He needs our permission to stay.”

   I think I blinked or something, because I don’t how the geezer ended up being grabbed by his collar and pushed violently to the wall by Naruto:

   “YOU STUPID OLD MAN! HE NEEDS YOUR FREAKING PERMISSION TO STAY?! THE HOKAGE DECIDES. IF KAKASHI SAYS HE CAN STAY, THEN HE’LL STAY. YOU WANT TO BE ASKED FOR PERMISSION?! THEN WHY WEREN’T YOU ON THE BATTLEFIELD WHEN SOME 17 YEARS OLD KIDS WERE DYING FOR YOU?! WHERE WERE YOU, HUH?! GO NOW AND SCOLD THEM BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T ASK FOR YOUR PERMISSION TO DIE!”

    Then he rushed out of the room as fast as he pushed the guy, slamming the door so hard that the wall got a huge crack from the bottom and up to the ceiling.

   “KAKASHI” Koharu retorded “you can’t let this kid act like this! You ca-“

   Kakashi interrupted her with that voice he used to warn his students when they crossed the line:

   “Although I am not very fond of Naruto’s outburst, I very much agree with his opinion on this matter. Sasuke’s name has been cleared. He can stay as long as he wants and he can leave when he wants. People of Konoha have 0 problem with him. They admire him as much as they admire Naruto. Moreover, as Naruto said, I am afraid you can’t decide what Sasuke does. In all the world the old councils are formed by people who were on the battlefield. Because they saw everything with their own eyes. We kept you as a sign of respect for the Third and his teachings. But I don’t have to listen to you. Because due to your decisions and influence I’ve lost friends. Obito was my friend. Itachi was my friend. So, please excuse me if I don’t want to lose my students because of your limited perspectives.”

   They glared at him, but he didn’t flinch. He actually crossed his arms and added:

   “I believe this meeting is over. Me and Tsunade-sama will decide on our own.”

 _Suck a dick you fuckers._ I was smirking at them just because I was an asshole. They went out of the room slamming the door again. Kakashi exhaled loudly and said:

   “Please don’t start a war because of this.”

   I snorted:

   “It would be a waste of time.”

   He shut his eyes and sighted again:

   “Clean this shit, Sasuke….Talk to him. He is like a paper bomb these days. We don’t know when he is going to blow up.”

   “What makes you believe it is my fault?!”

   “Did I say that?! I just asked you to talk to that idiot.”

   I got up frustrated:

   “Fine, fine, jeez…”

 

   On the way to the apartment it started to snow, wind howling and making the snow flakes move in a chaotic dance. When I got in the house Naruto was in the living room, on the floor, playing with his guitar. His eyebrows were frowned and he had that pained expression on his face. His hair was messy, probably because of the wind. I sat near him, legs crossed and I watched the village through his window balcony. It was snowing heavily now. I tried to prepare myself. I remember Sakura telling me “I need you to know”. Now I was in her place thinking that I needed Naruto to know. I had to tell him what I felt about this situation. This “us” that came out of nowhere.

   “Naruto” my voice was a whisper so I cleared my throat “I need you to know something. About this…about everything”. I wasn’t looking him in the eye, afraid that something that was there could make me change my mind. My eyes fixed the window and he put the guitar away.

   “This…this thing that started between us…I hate to admit but I don’t know what to do with it. I don’t know how to handle it and the problem is” I exhaled “the problem is it isn’t just about us. Your dream may be affected by this.”

   I turned to face him, his azure eyes were burning like this morning.

   “You said you’ll give this a try. Now you’re giving up?” he said, voice shaking.

   “What about your Hokage dream? You do realize you want to have a relationship with a man when you are about to become a Hokage. And that man is an Uchiha. And not any Uchiha. An ex Rogue Ninja. Orochimaru’s student. Itachi Uchiha’s little brother. Do you want me to say more?”

   He clenched his jaw again, then he said:

  “I don’t see things like that. And I don’t care what those fuckers say.”

   “I don’t care about those fuckers either, but what about the rest of the village?”

   “Sasuke, it’s not like we’ll have a big wedding and invite the whole world over…”

   I shook my head:

   “I don’t get it.”

   He tsched… _tsched_ me and said:

   “I mean what we will do as a couple it’s our business and I’m not gonna make a show out of it. If they will figure out, fine. I mean I’ll be discreet. I don’t see you talking much about your private life either…I know being Hokage it’s not gonna be easy, but I think we can make this work. And you are still the shinobi who helped me defeat Kaguya and saved the world. This is what should be important for them. And besides, this generation, they know we are close friends. I don’t think they care if we kiss or not.”

   I rolled my eyes:

   “What about today’s show?”

   “I’ve had a problem with them since you left. They didn’t agree with our efforts to clear your name. Then they didn’t agree with what I said about the Hyuga clan. What I’ve promised Neji. It’s just in the project phase, but they rejected even the discussion. Kakashi doesn’t like them and Grandma Tsunade either. Grandma Tsunade and Kakashi said they will be my councilors when I’ll become Hokage and the geezers will retire.”

   “Isn’t this against your ‘make all the shinobis agree with each other’ policy?”

   He gave me a sassy look:

   “Sas-ke I said I want all the ninjas to agree with each other, but that is possible only if you have a decent discussion partner. Otherwise it doesn’t make sense.”

   I refrained a smile:

   “How do you know what is a ‘decent discussion partner’?”

   He sticked his tongue out:

   “I read it in a book, you asshole.”

   “Idiot” I answered.

   I don’t know what came to me, but I got up and sat in his lap, legs wrapping around his waist. He gave me a flirty smile, eyebrows raised:

   “What are you doing?”

   I wrapped my hands around his neck and leaned in, closer to his ear:

   “I’m making up with you. What do you think I’m doing?” I whispered. Then I licked ( _I licked Naruto people, yes, yes)_ the lobe of his ear and nipped it.

   He let out a shaky breath:

   “It seems more like you’re trying to seduce me” he said, hands wandering at the base of my back.

   “Hmm, I don’t think you could resist me seducing you” I said, touching his lips with mine gently, before kissing him properly. His hands moved from my back in my hair, fingers tangled in it. I licked his lips to make him open his mouth. He did that and my tongue rushed in, finding his and playing with it. I could feel his breath starting to burn and something new and unknown boiling in the pit of my stomach. I broke the kiss and gave him a smug smile. He seemed dizzy, far away from this world.

   “Will you sleep with me?” he blurted, then started to blush violently when he realised what he said. I figured he wanted to ask if I wanted to go back on our bed, but it was a pity not to make fun of him.

   “Someone is eager” I said and he pushed me out of his lap. I hit my back on the floor, but I didn’t mind because I was laughing pretty hard seeing him blushing even more than before. He hit me with his leg:

   “You asshole.” But then he started to laugh with me.

   He helped me get up into a sitting position and I asked:

   “Will you sing that other song to me?”

   “Sure”, he nodded. Then grabbed his guitar. "It’s called ‘Diver’” he said, before plucking the strings.

    This song was a bit faster than the other one and he sang it higher, eyes closed again:

“ _The horizon is fading away_

_You can't even depict tomorrow in a sky so blue_

_I'm unable to even breathe amongst the crowds of frozen people_

_How long has it been since I dived into this place?”_

 

   Just like before those annoying butterflies started to dance in my stomach and my heart started to beat in the rhythm of Naruto’s song, but I didn’t care. If he could take away all my doubts like that I would let him sing to me forever.

 

“ _Would it be better if I just looked ahead and let my sorrow vent out?_

_But then I couldn't be very honest_

_Even when I hand everything over to my enemies, I can faintly sense light_

_I wonder if it will make it all the way down to me?_

_I want to breathe but I'm having difficulty here_

_Simply looking up into the dark of night, I am a diver struggling with sickness from descent_

_Even though I'm alive, I need to make sure_

_So as I aim for the deep seabed, I'll breathe once again”_

   Was this about us again? Or was it about him?

 

“ _When I turned over the map for the inside of my mind last night_

_It was filled with the knowledge of what I lack, leaving me alone and frightened_

_Even though I always thought that I was strong_

_I had always thought that I was stronger than any other person_

_A swan that had become lost was floating in the starry night sky_

_As though it were comfort, the rain began to fall_

_But it appears that we can't even become that; if a star is a star, then I can only be myself_

_I wonder how far I could go?”_

   When he got to the chorus again his blue eyes found mine and locked them there, in their azure world where there was nothing else beside Naruto.

 

“ _Carrying a heavy anchor on my back, I utter a tiny little prayer_

_And just as though it were a sign, the rain began to fall_

_I want to breathe but I'm having difficulty here_

_I simply look up into the dark as a diver without a means of surfacing_

_Even though I'm alive, I need to be perfectly sure_

_So as I aim for the deep seabed just this one last time_

_I'll try my hand at breathing_

_If I could come to realise just a fraction of happiness, I would never drown again.”_

   I guess Naruto was in a way a diver who jumped many years ago in the depths of my hatred and my disgust for the world. He wasn’t scared at all of what he could find in my heart. He knew it may look bad and be bad, but he also knew he would find a way. “ _I’ll shoulder your hatred and die with you_ ” he said and watching him in that grey afternoon, as he plucked the strings of his guitar, eyes closed and lips a little pink from my kiss, I knew that no matter how deep I would fall, he’ll jump after me. To save me. Even from myself. But I just hoped that the past had made me wise enough so I wouldn’t run away from him ever again. It sounded sappy in my mind and it probably was to a certain degree. But it was also serious to me. I couldn’t have felt something like that for anyone. I couldn’t have connected to someone like that.  It was just Naruto for me, no one else. And even if it was a bit weird, because we were both men, a voice in the deep of my heart was telling me that this has been meant to be from the very beginning.


	6. The Unison Sign

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Hope you had a good week. Chapter 6 is heeereeee...*starts blushing violently* and I am not ashamed of what I wrote :))) actually, I am, but I hope you'll like it because despite the explicit content I love how this chapter came out. Also, the song featured is "Michi- to you all" by Aluto ("Naruto Shippuden" ending 2) and I picked it for the lyrics. They are perfect for these two idiots :)) :D
> 
> Again, I am extremely grateful for the comments and kudos you left for the previous chapter. Thank you for taking a few minutes out of your day to read this fanfiction. :D <3 And if you like chapter 6, any type of feedback is fully appreciated :D
> 
> Last thing: I am thinking to write a Christmas Special for FSON. It'll be like a side story or a sort of intermezzo between chapter 6 and 7. You can skip it if you don't wanna read it, but if you enjoy some super cute Xmas NaruSasu maybe you'll give it a chance :D I think it'll be ready next week, maybe around Friday so you can read it before chapter 7 is out. So, yeaaah :D
> 
> Have a nice week ^_^

    In December we managed to clean the entire mess of the previous month. I told Naruto that I wanted to leave for the North somewhere around spring and that I’ll come back after the investigation is over. He agreed. He also agreed not to speak to much about our relationship. If it was meant to come out somehow, ok. If not, it was the same. He told me that probably it would be hard to keep it hidden from Kakashi and Sakura, who already knew things.

    The problem with the two councilors was also solved. Naruto talked to Gaara and the other Kages who fought in the war and asked them about their change in the old councils of the villages. He also checked if my name was indeed cleared or his previous efforts failed. It turned out that it was fine and they had 0 problems with me. Shikamaru, who was now an apprentice for becoming the Hokage’s assistant (Naruto’s future assistant) also confirmed that the old Konoha 11 and the villagers weren’t bothered in any way by my presence. So, long story short, the two geezers could go to hell.

    I also got curious about what Naruto did in the last years, except cleaning my name and learning. One morning in Kakashi’s office Shikamaru picked a pile of files and handed them to me.

    “So” he said sitting next to me, his spiky hair smelling like tobacco just like old Asuma-sensei did “there are two categories here. The first one is sort of messy. It was after the war, Naruto didn’t have an arm and he was full of ideas.” He gave me a half smile.

    Indeed those files were written in a messy scratch, messier than the usual. Shikamaru went on:

    “He insisted to write with his left arm which gave everybody headaches. He also didn’t know very well the procedures for some of the changes he was asking. We tried to organize his ideas in categories: health system, public policies, school matters and clans problems.”

    I could see Naruto’s rush on writing everything that he wanted to be changed, then crossing words and writing others near in red. Then it was a third revise in green which was more coherent and where he brought arguments and observations on the procedures. Shikamaru explained:

    “He revised them every time he learned something new. He also understood that he has to wait to get an arm before writing anything.” He snorted the last part, then handed me the second file.

    “This one is definitely better. It’s written last year. Also, please notice that some changes had already started, so he just checked the progress and wrote observations on it.” Shikamaru padded my shoulder and started helping Kakashi.

    I spent three hours reading every page that Naruto wrote. Every red word and green word showed how Naruto was learning and improving his abilities as a leader. In the last file I could see how, by learning new things about public policies and administrative changes, he wrote explanations for himself, in his own words. One particular observation made me laugh. It was about the process of changing the curriculum for the Academy. The procedure implied that the changes needed to be first checked by a teacher, then approved by a member of the old council and the Hokage, then a philosopher and someone from the Yamanaka clan should analyse the long term effect of this. I don’t know why Naruto didn’t understand this rather simple procedure, but he wrote in green: “Go to Iruka-sensei and ask him if what it was written about Itachi and Sasuke is ok. Then go to the old geezer (better Grandma Tsunade) and Kakashi. Then you need a ~~psilosopher~~ philoso..you kno and to Ino. Ask someone where you can find a psilosopher.” I mean the guy understood everything that needed to be done to change the doctrine of the Hyuga clan, but he didn’t get that.

    “Ah by the way, Sasuke” Shikamaru said “on the military problems, I think you can write your own observations too. I remember Naruto said he wanted to ask your opinion.”

    “Are you sure?” I asked, both him and Kakashi.

    Kakashi’s own eye flickered:

    “I’m sure you won’t write a declaration of war there or the text for your revolution” he blabbered.

    Shikamaru tensed suddenly, his intelligent eyes checking my face for any sign of anger.

    I snickered at Kakashi:

    “Very funny. If I were to write the text of my revolution Naruto would write fifty pages of green explanations, ending with an ‘you asshole’ and ‘believe it’”.

    Kakashi started to laugh and Shikamaru’s tensed expression lighted up. I looked at him:

    “Don’t walk on eggshells around me. If I get Naruto’s jokes I can get yours too.”

    He just smiled at me, then lit a cigarette and opened the window. He resembled Asuma-sensei so much, with his pensive face and the way he blew the smoke out. He turned to me and asked:

    “Not related to anything, but will you come to Ino’s engagement party?”

    “Uh?” I raised my eyebrows.

    “Is in two weeks from now.”

    “Who is the lucky guy?” Kakashi asked.

    “Sai” Shikamaru observed.

    “Hgn” I smirked. “Figures”.

    Shikamaru nodded. Kakashi seemed confused:

    “Figures? Why?”

_He likes gossiping too much._

    “He was openly/excessively flirting with her a few months ago.” I added. Shikamaru scratched his nose:

    “You should have seen them way before that. The guy is exactly what a girl like Ino needed.”

    I’ve decided to ran my mouth a bit:

    “It’s better that Sakura didn’t like him that way. I don’t think I wanted him that close. He’s weird sometimes.”

    Shikamaru gave Kakashi a suspicious look, but the old man said nothing and we changed the subject.

***

    In the afternoon I went to Tsunade for the monthly check up of my arm. It seemed I didn’t have Naruto’s coordination problem, which made him protest one evening, whining that he had to learn to play the guitar. I told him that I like when he played it and he blushed and _job done_. Tsunade told me that everything was fine and I could start sparing with Naruto in two or three weeks.

    As soon as I entered the apartment a delicious smell of fresh made tomato soup tickled my senses. Naruto was in front of the stove, wearing loose pajama pants and one of his oversized “Uzumaki!!” T-shirts. He saw me and gave me one of those super smiles of his that hypnotized me. I went and kissed his left temple. He closed his eyes and sighted in pleasure. It made my heart melt uncomfortably because he was doing this often since we had made up and I was the first to initiate any type of gesture. It gave my gesture a deeper meaning. It’s not like I didn’t feel a deeper meaning when I was doing it, but coming from him..I don’t know..it kinda made me hyperaware of what I was doing around him.

    He tapped at my frowned eyebrows:

    “What’s wrong?” he whispered.

    I shrugged:

    “Nothing. It smells really good.”

    He took a small spoon and dipped it in the soup, then gave me to taste:

    “How is it?” he asked, azure eyes scanning my expression. He had that look that told me he seeked my validation.

    “Hgnnn, it’s good” I said.

    His face lit up and he grinned:

    “Great. Then it’s ready. Dinner?”

    “Yeah. I’ll go change.”

    When I came back in the kitchen, outfit similar with Naruto’s except the “Uzumaki!!” text on my T- shirt, the table was ready. While I was enjoying my tomato soup with the croutons that Naruto baked in the oven, I asked him:

    “Do you know about Ino’s engagement party?”

    He winced:

    “Yuuup, Sai came to the Academy today to invite us: me, you and Sakura.”

    “Are we going?”

    “Are we?” he wiggled his eyebrows.

    “Tsch, we have to, right? I mean, he is part of Team 7. It’ll be rude not to go to his engagement party and the future wedding.”

    “So, we’re going.”

    “Did you wait for me to decide?” I teased.

    “No? I waited for you to confirm that we’re going.”

    “Hgn, like you had gone without me” I teased again.

    He stuck his tongue out.

    “Do we need to buy a present?”

    “Oh, no” he weaved his hand “Sai told me that she specifically asked not to. She just want to celebrate this with us.”

    “Oh, not even flowers?”

    “She has a _flower shop_ Sasuke, I don’t think she wants more flowers” he mocked me.

    I gave him an eye roll.

    After dinner I was _finally_ allowed to wash the damn dishes. It wasn’t as exciting as I thought….

   When I got into the bedroom, Naruto was sprawled on his back on his side of the bed, eyes closed. I leaned to his side and he catched one of my hands and pulled me towards him:

    “Come here” he said in a sleepy voice.

    I placed my head on his heart and listened to his beat so I could match mine with his. He started to play with the ends of my hair, then his right hand travelled down on my nape and then skimmed over my spine. I shivered and he giggled:

    “You’re like a cat.”

    I protested:

    “No, I’m not!”

    He traced a few circles with his fingers at the base of my spine, close to the waistband of my pajama pants and I shrugged again.

    “See? You are like a cat.”

    Then his hand went down and pinched my ass. _Mother-_ I smacked him in the head and he started to laugh. Then he leaned over me and kissed my forehead, my eyes, my cheeks, avoiding for too long my mouth, until I grabbed his head and smashed my lips with his. Taken by surprise he let go of a choked sound and then he nipped at my lower lip. His mouth went down on my chin and then on my neck, leaving behind a trace of featherlike kisses that made my skin burn and my mind scream with want. _I wanted him_. I wanted him in that way and judging by his glassy eyes I figured he wanted me too.

 

***

    For the next two weeks I totally forgot about Ino’s party, until the actual day was close and I had no suit or any fancy thing to wear. The party would take place in a new restaurant in Konoha around 7 PM on Friday. So around 4 PM I realised it was time to go and buy a shirt and some slacks or anything. Naruto said he will get ready and wait for me to come.

    I roamed around the shops in Konoha (thanks to Sakura’s shopping session I knew were I was going), until I found a decent grey shirt and a pair of black slacks and shoes. I asked the girl over there who was staring at me ( _annoying_ …) to iron them because I was doubting my ability or Naruto’s not to burn the damn clothes and that took another 20 minutes.

    So I was a little bit late when I got home, but whatever. Naruto was in the bedroom, checking himself in the mirror. I ceased my hurried steps when I saw him because _daaaaamn_ he looked stunning and sexy. He wore a pale blue shirt tucked in his pants, sleeves folded up below elbow and a pair of black-dark blue slacks (I couldn’t figure the colour), extra slim, which made his ass look edible. _Please forget that I said Naruto’s ass is edible._ The blue shirt made his azure eyes burn in colour and his hair was arranged a bit, probably with some hair wax or something. I was ogling him and he started to fumble with his slacks pockets:

    “Do I…look okay?” he stuttered.

    Eyes wide and most probably a dumb expression on my face I answered:

    “Y-y-yeeah. You…you..look…gr..I mean you’re…you’re beautiful, Naruto.” I blushed and hearing my compliment he blushed too.

    “You should get dressed too.”

    I started to take the shirt and the pants out of their garment bag and got dressed. Naruto went to pick up our winter “fancy” coats from the living room and when he came back it was his turn to ogle me. I watched my reflection in the mirror: grey shirt with long sleeves and black slim slacks (just slim because I was a little skinnier than Naruto and it would have looked weird on me). I trimmed my hair in the bathroom with a kunai and I was proud of my job. He kinda  squeaked before mumbling:

    “Damn you look hot…”

    “What?” I teased.

    He blushed furiously again and retorted:

    “Oh my God Sasuke, I said you look hot. Stop embarrassing me!”

    I snorted. We took our shoes (the fancy ones, obviously) and our winter jacket coats – black and long for me, navy blue and short for Naruto – and we left the house around 7 PM, when we should have been there already. _Oops!_

    We got to the restaurant in 15 minutes and when we entered Sakura scolded us for being late. She was wearing a beautiful off- the- shoulder middle length light pink dress ( _what a mouthful_ ) with a sakura print on it and white stiletto pumps. Her pastel pink hair was wavy and she smelled like spring when she hugged us. She looked gorgeous. Ino came to us in a plum short off-the-shoulder dress, hair in a messy bun. She wore dark grey (kinda metallic) stiletto pumps. She hugged us warmly and we congratulated her. Then Sai came, looking fancy like all the boys that night in his white shirt with black vest and black slacks. Hinata came after to say hi to Naruto, also looking pretty in her high neck short lavender dress and ankle strap stiletto heels.

    Everyone was there and everyone was dressed up. I was kinda overwhelmed because we were always wearing our everyday ninja uniforms, fishtanks, sandals, all straps, loose, military shit and now there were high heels everywhere, and flowy dresses, slacks, vests and formal shoes. It was different and nice. Even Lee was dressed up in a white shirt and dark green slacks and she was holding Tenten’s hand ( _were they dating_?), who also looked different with her traditional oriental black dress with cuts on both side of her legs. Kakashi, Tsunade and other Jounins also arrived, so you could say the group was complete. A lot of people from the Yamanaka clan were also there and Ino presented us a few, but I couldn’t keep up with the names. However, you could spot them immediately, thanks to their ash/blonde/light blonde hair.

   At the beginning it was that chaotic moment when everyone greeted everyone and hugged Ino and Sai and asked questions and lots of “you look good/fancy/omg I’ve never seen you like this” were thrown around. We were finally seated when Shikamaru came in with Temari (!!), both followed by Kiba. Temari wore a two piece nude-pink short dress and nude high heels. She and Shikamaru started blushing when the whole room whispered things about them. They came to sit at our table (Team 7) and once Sakura started to talk to them the embarassement was gone.

    In one corner of the room there was a band who started playing dancing music at a certain point, after the boys drank enough sake to have the courage to go to the dance floor. Taking into consideration the previous experience, Naruto drank only a little wine. When the music started Sakura asked both of us to dance with her and Naruto stood up and grabbed my hands and forced me to go with him. And because he was looking stunning in that light I couldn’t say no to him, although I wanted to smash my head in the wall the moment I got on the dancefloor. His eyes were on mine every time he had the chance, between Kiba’s stupid jokes and Lee’s awkward moving around dance. Soon, because of the steady rhythm of the music we all started to look a bit disheveled, but everyone was laughing and smiling.

    Sakura leaned on me, arms wrapped around my neck and hummed in my ear in the rhythm that was played those moments:

    “You’re ogling Naruto like you’re about to eat him right now, Sasuke.”

    “WHAT?!!” I bursted mortified and she started to laugh.

    “What what?” Naruto asked.

    Shikamaru, who was around snorted and took Naruto and me around our shoulders and said:

    “Find a room, guys”.

    “Oh MY GOD Shikamaru!” Naruto moaned. But, because I saw the opportunity I teased Shikamaru:

    “So, what’s Temari doing here?” and Sakura came near me and fluttered her eyelashes.

    Shikamaru’s expression suddenly changed and he stuttered:

    “She..we…I mean”

    Me, Naruto and Sakura laughed together:

    “Come on, Shikamaru, you kno’ Sas-ke is a sass” Naruto observed. I rolled my eyes, but Shikamaru laughed:

    “Especially since he’s spending too much time with you.”

    "Oh no, it has nothing to do with me. He is a sass by nature."

    That moment the song changed into something slower and romantic and only the couples remained on the dancefloor, girls wrapping their hands around their boyfriends necks. We were back on the chairs when Kakashi came out of nowhere and invited Sakura to dance, which caused her to blush and mutter something, but she got up anyway. I raised an eyebrow, but Naruto just shrugged.

    A few members of the Yamanaka clan got after a few seconds on the dancefloor, boy with boy pairs fooling around and kinda mocking the couples. This encouraged Naruto to tug my shirt sleeve suggestively. I shook my head in a strong “no way, you idiot”, but he whispered in my ear:

    “Please Sas-ke, I like the song”.

    I swear I could have said no again, but the truth was my stupid brain wanted to see how it felt to dance with him, so I just got up and followed him, praying that people won’t start making fun of us because I would go back to old “ _Sasuke wants to destroy Konoha_ ” mode.

   I’ve stood close to Naruto before, but never like this or better said never with the idea in my mind that we were about to dance. Because I was a bit taller than him he wrapped his arms around my neck too and I settled mine on his waist. The song was played with a violin, two guitars and drums. We just moved around the dancefloor, listening to the lyrics:

 

_“Just like always_  
As I turn that corner   
I am lost in the waves of people   
Melting, disappearing  
  
  
  
  
---  
  
_I lose my way_  
I even completely lose my words  
  
  
  
  
_But just one thing_  
Remained, remained   
Your voice  
  
  
  
  
_Your smiling faces, your angry faces, everything_  
Keeps me walking on   
Surely, when I see the point   
Where the clouds have broken  
  
  
  
  
_You know what I mean? (You know what I mean?)”_

    Naruto hid his nose in the crook of my neck and through the vibrations of his chest I realised he was humming the song. He was warm and I forgot we should’ve made fun of the situation. In fact, I forgot everything. I forgot I was to Ino’s engagement party, I forgot I was the last survivor of the doomed Uchiha clan, I forgot that probably people were staring. It was just me and Naruto, with his gorgeous eyes sparkling at me and his orange smell that intoxicated my lungs and my senses. _  
  
  
_  
  
_“Even though I'm living ambiguously_  
My heart is immature, but   
But it's okay, look, over there   
Is the person important to me  
  
  
  
  
_If you get lost_  
I will be your guide   
And then, if you just believe in me  
  
  
  
  
_I'll make sure you know the way_  
So don't be afraid  
  
  
  
  
_I'm releasing into the sky a collection of lights_  
So that you'll know  
  
  
  
  
_And then, It'll illuminate the road you walk_  
Even more  
  
  
  
  
_Everywhere... (Everywhere...)  
  
  
_  
  
_Going from your hair to your voice to your mouth, to your fingertips  
  
  
_  
  
_Even just for now is fine (Even just for now is fine)”_  
  
 

    When the song ended all the couples started to clap for the band and I just stood there staring in Naruto’s eyes and fighting the urge to lean in and kiss him. Beside the flutter in my chest that desire that I’ve felt before came back to me, hitting in burning waves. His expression looked troubled too, but I didn’t ask because if he said that he felt that too I wouldn’t control myself.

We ate and laughed with the others the rest of the party and by 2 AM people left home, drunk, tipsy or sober. I knew we were sober. Almost too sober for what I wanted.

 

***

    As soon as the door of our apartment closed I slammed Naruto’s back hard on it and started kissing him eagerly. He giggled and responded to my kiss, opening his mouth and letting me explore. We took our coats off and threw them on the floor, without breaking the kiss. I got back over him, he grabbed my ass and I figured he wanted me to straddle him. He lifted me and carried me easily to the bedroom, like I had 10 kg, not 52. The full moon threw a blue light on the walls.

    My mind started to scream only his name, nothing else. All my senses were focused on him. Then I suddenly got scared, asking myself if he wanted me that way or I was pushing him. He leaned us on the bed, bodies pressing together and my doubts dissapeared. I could feel his weight over me, but instead of feeling trapped as I thought I would feel, I felt safe. His hands were in my hair, while mine wondered over his spine. He broke the kiss and brushed my bangs out of my eyes, so he could look at me. He asked softly:

    “What do you want, Sasuke?”

    My mouth ran dry. What did I want? Could I let myself go and gave him all the control? Most probably yes. I wanted to let go. I wanted to let him tear me apart until there was no past and no future for me, just that fleeting present in which he became a part of me. I whispered, not being able to recognize my own voice:

    “Take me. I don’t know if you know what you have to do, but just take me.”

    Desire and something else that I decided to ignore flickered in his eyes, that were darker, pupils blown so hard already that all the azure was just a fine sharp line of colour.

    “Ok” he said, then he kissed me slowly, his hands roaming over the buttons of my shirt, opening them. I didn’t have that damn ability or patience to concentrate, so I just pulled his shirt out of the pants and ripped it open. He chuckled, sound lost in my mouth and I smiled. He grabbed our shirts and threw them away on the floor. I could hear the buttons flying everywhere. When he was above me again I ran my fingers over his toned chest and abs. His honey skin was delicious and I realized I finally lost my mind in this desire for him. And he was so composed that it pissed me off in a way, like he was me and I was him, like somehow lust made me impatient and made him calm.

    He started nipping and kissing my neck, then down my collarbone, then lower on both of my nipples. I arched my back feeling his lips over that part of my body. _That’s something new._ Then he went lower, giving little pecks on my belly and over my navel. He licked it. It wasn’t something that erotic if you actually thought about it, but it made me burn harder with desire. Then, as if I wasn’t going kinda crazy already, he licked all that skin above the waistband of my slacks. I raised myself in my elbows and searched for his eyes. He looked up at me and something mischievous and triumphant was hidden there, as if he had just figured out that he had that kind of power over me and he was itching to use it. I growled:

    “Just take them off, Naruto. You make me go crazy and I’ll kill you.”

    He barked a laugh, then opened the fly of my pants and took them off, along with my boxers, in one fluid motion. He discarded them on the floor. He also moved fast on taking off his clothes. Then he was over me again, bodies naked and interwining. It was something so new for me. I felt his chest, his stomach and every muscle flexing over mine. He was warm and soft everywhere. Or at least this is what I felt, letting my hands explore his body. He did the same, kissing me and stopping from time to time to look at that part of me that he found captivating. He figured he especially liked the edge of my hipbones because he went down and kissed them, then came back and whispered in my ear:

    “You’re so beautiful”.

    I squeezed my eyes shut. Nobody ever told me that in that sincere tone and I’ve never wished for someone to tell me that, but what I was experiencing with him was entirely new, yet familiar and I liked it. He asked me cautiously:

    “You kno’ I love you, right Sasuke?”

    I widened my eyes and looked at him. He braced his arms on either side of my head and scanned my face. I figured that what I chose to ignore before was this: love, pure love. And in that second I swear I could have heard my walls all crumbling into pieces in front of Naruto’s kind and selfless heart. I pulled him into a strong hug, trying my best to hide the tears in my eyes and I whispered:

“I love you too, you idiot.”

    He kissed me again, that touch of our lips hiding everything we felt for each other in that moment. It was slow, long and meaningful. When I was starting to get dizzy he reached over the nightstand and opened the drawer. He pulled out a small bottle of something and a condom. I honestly had no idea what that bottle was used for so I asked:

   “What’s that?”

   “Umm..lube?” he answered with a shy smile.

   “What do you need that for?”

   He went tomato red, probably not because he didn’t know what to do with that, but because he was ashamed to say it out loud. He exhaled trying to make the embarrassement go away and he explained:

    “If we do it like this it’ll hurt like hell. I don’t want to hurt you”. The last part was delivered in a very serious tone.

    “How do you know about this?” I asked curiously, hoping that he wasn’t going to tell me he had done this before with someone else, because I would have gone and _murder the bitch._

    He gave me a lopsided smile:

    “Let’s say I had spent too much time with Ero Sennin and I got bored so I read his manuscripts….which were not just about…ehmm…boys and girls sex.”

    “Are you a pervert?” I teased.

    He whined:

    “Sass-kee, you’re ruining the mood.”

    I nuzzled his cheek:

    “No, I’m not”.

    He giggled and kissed me. “Ready?” he asked for permission again.

    I nodded, although I didn’t know what I should have been ready for exactly.

    He took the little bottle and opened it, then poured some of the lubricant on his fingers. He put the bottle on the nightstand and claimed my lips again, while his hand travelled between my legs. His slick fingers traced circles around my entrance for a bit, then one slipped in. At first it felt weird and all my senses were centered on that feeling, but then, with every in and out movement, it turned into something else – pleasure. He traced kisses from my neck down my body and I closed my eyes, drowning in everything he was doing to me. A strong shiver shook me when he licked my member, all the way from the base to the tip. I opened my eyes and moaned when I saw him taking me into his mouth and sucking. It was probably the most erotic thing I saw in my entire life, his blonde hair messy, lips pink and eyes turned into two black holes by lust.

    He pushed a second finger in, but it didn’t hurt. It felt good. Every second with him that night felt good. His movements down there and his kisses on my inner thighs sent waves of electricity in my brain, making it rather unfunctional. Then he touched something in me making me arch my back and look desperately for support somewhere.

    “What was that?” I exhaled when I could breathe again.

   “You mean this” and he touched that thing again making me moan. He bit my ear lobe and whispered in a low sexy voice:

    “That’s you _sweet spot_ , Sasuke.”

    I picked up the condom from the nightstand and threw it at him. He chuckled and whispered an “Ok, got it.”

    He tore it open with his teeth (image that made me tremble in anticipation) and rolled it onto his cock. He lubed up and then placed himself between my legs, his eyes watching my face intensely as he teased my entrance with the tip. I let out a shaky breath when he pushed in, but he stopped and pulled back. He did this push and pull teasing a few times, until I relaxed completely. I tangled my fingers in his hair and pulled him so that he could enter me completely. We both moaned and he ceased any kind of movement, placing little kisses on my cheeks, nose and forehead. I wrapped my legs around his waist and dug my heels into the small of his back to tell him that he could move.

    He set a slow pace and kept to it. And as I let my hands travel on his back, feeling how he was undulating over me with every thrust I realized that I trusted Naruto, I trusted him to keep my pieces in one place. And he took care of me, he was taking care of me that moment, making love to me like I was the most important thing in his life.

    That also reminded me of the unison sign, that thing that me and Naruto never had the chance to do because when we were kids we were stubborn and when we were almost adults we wrecked our arms. But maybe _this_ was our unison sign. Maybe this was what brought peace in our bond. Maybe our unison sign was me and him loving each other.

    I bit his shoulder and whispered “I love you” again. He bit then licked my collarbone and whispered “I love you too, Sas-ke”. He thrusted faster, but I wanted him deeper. I grabbed his butt on both sides squeezing hard his asscheecks and demanded:

    “Deeper, Naruto”.

    He let out a “fuck” and complied. He hit that spot again and again and again, but this time was so much different than the first, because his member was hard and warm and I couldn’t refrain myself from letting out a loud groan.

    The room was filled with our breaths and my moans which followed the rhythm of his thrusts. That something was boiling in my stomach again and I felt one of his hands wrapping around my own cock and stroking it in the same pace with the thrusts. After he hit my spot a couple of times that something in me exploded like fireworks, sending shivers all over my body. I let my head fell back and heard someone screaming his name and I figured it was me. He reached his own peak, his cock throbbing in me. Then his thrusts lost rhythm, until his hips stilled and he fell over me, panting.

    When I was able to think again I just said:

    “Wow…”

    He giggled and forced himself up onto his arms:

    “Yeah. We should’ve done this all those years instead of fighting.”

    He kissed me and slipped out from my body, walking in the bathroom to throw the condom. Then he came back with a wet warm towel and cleaned me. He went back and I heard him throwing the towel in the laundry basket. In no time he was in the bed, covering us with the comforter. Once he was settled he took me into his arms and hid his nose in my hair. I hugged him too and placed my ear on his beating heart, letting that soft song to lull me in sleep.

 

    The moon was still shining when I woke up to find Naruto standing cross legged in bed and watching the window. I hugged him from behind and kissed the space between the base of his neck and the shoulder.

    “Can’t sleep?” I asked him.

    He took my right hand and directed it between his legs. He was half hard. I snorted:

    “Again?”

    He answered in a husky voice:

    “Take me this time.”

    He turned to face me and I asked him:

    “Are you sure?”

    “You know what to do, right?”

    “Y-yeah” I mumbled.

    He threw his hands around my neck and hummed between kisses:

    “Then-kiss-do–kiss-it.”

    I pushed him on the bed, heart pulsing in my ears at the image. He looked different under me. He looked vulnerable, but in the same time he was beautiful. It crossed my mind that Naruto was a handsome man and he could have had any girl he wanted. He was a war hero, he was gentle and funny. Maybe a little too dense sometimes, but he had a good heart and if you were smart enough you could see that. But he chose to do this with me, to look at me with his sapphire eyes full of adoration. And I was grateful for that.

    I explored his body with my mouth, licking, kissing, sucking and nipping everywhere. It felt so natural to me to have him that way, to get to know him that way after all those years. I took his member into my mouth and circled the head with my tongue. His head fell back in the pillows and he shoved his hands in my hair, tugging it. I bobbed my head a few times, then licked the tip again and let it fall from my mouth. Naruto was a moaning mess.

    I grabbed the lube and prepped him the same way he did with me: slowly and gently. Then once the condom was on, I eased myself in. My breath hitched because he was tight and burning and I was drunk in desire. But I also didn’t want to hurt him, so I bit my lip until I was in him completely. I covered his body with mine, setting a pace a little bit faster than the one he found earlier that night. While I was kissing him passionately I slid my hands beneath his back and helped him sit in my lap. He moaned because the angle changed and I grazed his sweet spot. I thursted upward and he moaned my name again. He hid his face in my neck and started to grind down to meet my thrusts. I kept the angle and hit that same spot multiple times until Naruto started to shake violently and to dig his nails in my back. I hugged him tighter and kept thursting, getting closer to my own limit. When he reached his peak he shook so hard that his trembles went from his body into mine. It was like he shattered in my arms and let me pick up his pieces. I bit his shoulder hard when I came but I don’t think he noticed it because he didn’t react in any way. I put my hands on his face, making him rise his head from where he hid it. His forehead was sweaty and he was still shaking. I started to get scared thinking that maybe I was too rough with him.

    “Naruto, are you ok?”

    His eyes were dizzy as if this was actually the moment he came back from his ecstasy.

    “I….I’ve never..umm. I came hard, that’s all” he whispered, giving me a sleepy lopsided smile. I hugged him, relieved that I didn’t hurt him and he said:

    “You didn’t hurt me if that was what concerned you.”

    I helped him move and slipped out of his body. My legs were like jelly when I went to the bathroom to take another towel. When I came back, Naruto was sprawled on his back in the bed, already drifting away. I cleaned him, threw the towel on the bathroom floor and came back to him. I crawled in bed and took him in my arms. He kissed my chest, mumbled a sleepy “I lov ya, Sas” and fell asleep. I stared at the ceiling for a bit, thinking that I loved him too and that probably I had loved him before, but I didn’t want to admit it.

    The next day the afternoon found us still in bed, a tangled mess of arms and legs. Never in my entire life have I slept like that. I felt euphoric, like I took some drugs or something. _People, this is The Naruto Effect or better said  being the one that Naruto makes love with Effect._ He was still sleeping, but I licked his neck and he started whining, then he grabbed my arms and flipped us over. He had that flicker in his eyes that told me he was joking. He pinned my hands in the bed, holding me by the wrists, leaned down and licked my nipples. When I tried to escape he started tickling my sides and I bursted into laughter. We played like that for another ten minutes.

    “We need to clean the house” he said eloquently.

     I snorted. The bedroom had our shirts and pants and boxers discarded on the floor, and I remembered that we let our coats at the entrance.

    “I’ll go pick up the coats” he said and he got out of bed and started walking around, butt naked. I barked a laugh. He probably took our coats and put them back in the wardrobe from the living room. He came back his body looking breathtaking in the warm light of the afternoon.

    “Is everything ok?” he asked noticing that I was staring.

    I nodded, got out of the bed, went to him and kissed his forehead gently. He giggled and I told him:

    “Thank you, Naruto…for loving me.”

    He blinked then that disquieting smile of his illuminated his face. He kissed me slowly and said:

    “Always, Sas-ke.”


	7. Snowflakes Melting (FSON XMAS Special)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys! As I promised last week: the Christmas Special for "Four Seasons, One Naruto" it's heeereeee :))) As I said before, this is just a side story and you don't need to read it if you don't want. It's just something I wanted to write because my "writer" brain kept bothering me and because I wanted these two idiots to be even sappier than they already are :D  
> So, hope you'll enjoy and because it's near, hope you'll have a Merry Christmas! :D

    24 december- it’s snowing heavily over Konoha. Shikamaru opens the window of the office to smoke and a freezing wind comes in, ruffling the millions of papers over Kakashi’s desk. I frown:

    “Can you not smoke?” I ask Shikamaru.

    He turns to me from the window, his dark eyes scanning my face. A smirk appears:

    “Sorry, Sasuke. I can’t help myself.”

    “Tsch, those things will kill you one day” I retort.

    He laughs, then scratches his nape in a way that reminds me of a certain idiot:

    “People use to say the same thing about Asuma-sensei. In the end Akatsuki killed him, not the smoking…but I guess it would have been better if he had died because of bad lungs, not because some maniac killed him.”

    I finish reading the paper that was in my hands and fix him:

    “If he would have died because of his lungs you wouldn’t have been who you are today.”

    He seems taken aback by my intention to cheer him up. He gives me a lopsided smile:

    “I think you spend too much time with Naruto, Sasuke. You start to talk like him.”

    I give him an eye roll:

    “Bullshit. Do you want me to start talking about how I’m gonna become Hokage?” I joke.

    He flinches:

    “Better not.”

     He finishes his cigar and closes the window. Another 20 minutes pass in silence, until I finish all my observations on the new arrangement of ANBU that Kakashi asked me to review. I give the papers to Shikamaru and he rises an eyebrow:

    “Finished already?”

    “I’m not Naruto” I observe.

    He laughs:

    “I’ll tell him that you said that.”

     “Can’t wait” I respond.

     Shikamaru is a nice guy. Since Ino’s engagement party two weeks ago I started spending more time with him and I’ll confess, I’m surprised how much I like him. He is the opposite of Naruto – quiet and smart. Very smart. He might be smarter than me, actually, but I’m never going to admit that out loud…I take my coat, my beanie and gloves. I’m not joking, it’s freezing cold outside and the blizzard that has just started makes everything even worse. Before I open the door of the Hokage office to leave Shikamaru asks:

    “Plans for tonight? It’s Christmas Eve.”

    Christmas it’s not a holiday specific to Konoha, it’s something that comes from the North. We usually celebrate only the New Year in Konoha, but for some reason in the last time people started to buy trees and decorate it even in our village. Naruto did the same one week ago, buying a tree and bringing it in the living room. We had to move his bookshelf to make room for the tree, but the entire house filled with his fresh smell and I liked it. Then, Naruto brought a huge box with all kinds of Christmas decorations and we spent the entire evening “making our tree beautiful, cuz now he’s naked” as Naruto said. _I know I wanted him naked, not the tree *ehem* forget I said that._

    I turn to Shikamaru, while my hands are trying to make sure the beanie is fixed on my head:

    “Naruto is baking something and tomorrow we exchange presents.”

    “Don’t worry about yours. I’m sure he’ll love it” Shikamaru says, winking at me.

    I tsch him:

    “I didn’t ask for your help so you can make fun of me” I growl.

    “I’m not making fun of you” he says exasperated “I’m just telling you he’ll like it.”

    “Ok, ok, fine.” I swear he is making fun of me. He keeps implying stuff since he saw me and Naruto dancing at Ino’s engagement party. The present he’s talking about it’s a picture with Kushina, Minato and Jiraiya that we managed to find in the archives of Konoha. I told Shikamaru that Naruto decided to exchange presents for Christmas and that I wanted a picture with his parents and he helped me find it. Along with that, I went to a shop and bought him a Kurama plushie and a limited edition guitar pick that Naruto has been raving about. And I saw in one shop a burgundy hoodie with Konoha’s symbol on the back and I bought that too because he wears only orange and I want to see him in other colors. I wonder what he bought me…

    Out in the village it’s worse than I imagined. My nose instantly gets runny because of the freaking cold and I can’t see a damn thing thanks to those snowflakes that are moving everywhere along with the blizzard. More, I think my pants started freezing on me. Wonderful. It takes me more than usual to get to the apartment, but when I do I swear I feel relieved. When I open the door the strong smell of cinnamon and pumpkin hits me. It’s warm in the house and Naruto hums a Christmas song in the kitchen. His voice makes my brain melt and I instantly remember him moaning my name in bed. _Yeah, I know, I turned into a pervert…_

    I get into the kitchen and find Naruto before the stove, mixing something in a pot. _Ah, hot chocolate_. He’s wearing a pale green apron above his clothes and this view must be the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.

    “Hey” he whispers, then leans in and gives me a peck on the cheek. “Uhhh, you’re frozen. Go and change.”

    “What are you baking?” I ask curiously.

    He gives me one of those blinding smiles of his and answers:

    “It’s a surprise. Go and change.”

    I mumble something, but obey anyway. In a few minutes I’m ready and Naruto calls me from the living room. When I enter the Christmas lights are on and he put a mattress on the floor, in front of the sofa and turned it into a comfy bed full of pillows.

    “We change the place of the bed tonight?” I ask, one eyebrow raised.

    “Yep, it’s a special occasion. Besides, it’s romantic.”

    “Sappy” I respond.

    “Sappy, crappy, I don’t care. It’s Christmas Eve and we’ll sleep on this fluffy mattress on the living room floor” he declares, pouting as a 5 year old.

    I lean in and ruffle his hair:

    “Fine, fine. We do as you say.”

    We sit on the mattress and he hands me the mug of hot chocolate. I’m glad he put just half a marshmallow in it, otherwise it would have been too sweet for me. I give a side look to his own mug. He has two marshmallows.

    “You’ll end up with diabetes, Naruto” I scold him.

    “Pffff” he snorts.

    I shake my head, but obviously, I’ll let him go this time.

    The room is painted in the warm red, yellow and orange colours of the Christmas lights. I inhale. It smells like tree and hot chocolate and Naruto. I watch him, as I always do when I don’t know what to say. He’s looking through the window, mesmerized by the snow storm. His eyes are glistening and his lips are forming a melancholic smile.

    “Are you ok?” I ask him because he is too quiet.

    “Yeah” he sights “I was just thinking how this Christmas Eve could have been if mum, dad and Ero Sennin were here”. He turns to me and I see tears forming in the corners of his eyes.

    I put my chocolate mug away and get closer to him. One of my hands is wiping the tears away while the other catches his prosthetic arm:

    “Hey, you know, I think about my family too. I..I know how you feel, Naruto.”

    He gets even closer to me, hiding his face in the crook of my neck, his hands thrown around my waist.

    “But you know, I am here. And I promise I won’t let you go. So, please, don’t be sad. It makes me sad too.”

    And it’s true. Naruto is always smiling and joking, which helps me to keep my mind clear and not think too much about the past. But when he is sad, well, I can’t stand it too well. It has always been like that, but now, since our relationship changed it’s even harder to see him hurt. It’s like the only think that keeps my world sane is crumbling into small pieces and I know I’ll never be able to fix again.

    “Naruto” I call him, my voice just a shaky whisper. He raises his head from the crook of my neck where he hid it and my stomach clenches because he looks beautiful tonight, as he always does and I don’t know what he put in that hot chocolate, but I just lean in until he is just one breathe away.

    “I love you” I say before letting my lips touch his. He waits to see if I deepen the kiss or not and when I don’t his hands are in my hair and he pulls me closer. Somehow we manage to put the mugs in a safe place, without spilling everything on the floor. Now I am in his lap and my legs are around his waist. He kisses my neck with featherlike touches and I feel my entire body shivering. His hands are skimming over my spine, up and down, until he grabs the hem of my T-shirt and tugs it, telling me he wants me naked. I raise my arms and he takes the T-shirt away, throwing it on the floor. I take his off too and then his chest is touching mine and he is warm and soft and his lips are travelling over my neck on the right side, then on the left side, then I don’t know what he is doing anymore because I am drown in his presence and his body. We kiss slowly for a while until I get impatient because I can’t stand him (and me) still wearing pants.

    He probably figures that out because he helps me take my sweatpants and underwear off and then his. And now I know there is nothing else between us, not even my mind that used to think I can live without him or even kill him. My hands go down between his legs and find his member, which is already hard and give it a few strokes. His breath hitches and he wispers:

    “Go slow, Sasuke.”

    Go slow? _Oh, man_ , didn’t he figure up until now that I kinda hate to go slow because I can’t be as composed as he is? His hands are searching for something under the pillows and he pulls out a condom and a little bottle of lube.

    “You planned this” I chuckle.

    He grins:

    “Why do you think I plan every time I make love to you?”

    “Because you do.”

    “No, I don’t. I just like to be prepared.”

    “What’s that supposed to mean?”

    “That there are condoms and lube bottles everywhere in the house just in case you get impatient as you are now” he says proudly.

    “Did you just turn the entire house in the heaven of lube and condoms? What’s this, a mined land?” I snort.

    He laughs and I lick his ear:

    “I can’t go slow when I am with you. Lead the way.”

    His sapphires are examining my face and his hands are brushing away the bangs from my eyes:

    “Are you letting me take control again?”

    I try to stay as indifferent as I can when I tell him:

    “Yes, do whatever you want.”

     He barks a laugh again but leans in and starts kissing me eagerly and I forget who I am again. I let my hands travel on his back, tracing the contour of every muscle and his hands are tangled in my hair. Then he grabs the bottle of lube, pours some on his fingers and finds my entrance tracing achingly slow circles around until he pushes in slowly. And I’m thinking I like to sit in his lap like this because I can see every expression  he makes and I can feel his every move and I can truly wrap my mind around the fact that he is here, present and real and that he is mine, because otherwise I wouldn’t let him do these things to me.

    After a while he pushes another finger in, but I want him so bad that I bite his lower lip and growl:

    “It’s ok already, Naruto”

    “But” he hesitates, so I grab the condom, tore it open and roll it on him. Then I take the lube and pour some on his member. And then, when he finally gets the message I position myself better and slowly sink down on him and he stops breathing for a while, closing his eyes and letting a silent moan between his parted lips. After I am all the way down on him he starts breathing hard and searches for my lips desperately. We move slowly and lazily and it’s intense even like this and it’s quiet and warm in the room, while from the outside you can hear the snow storm getting crazier.

    When I start shaking he knows I’m close so he finds my member and gives it slow strokes, in the rhythm of our movements. He wispers “Let go, Sasuke, I’m here” and his voice hypnotizes me and I can’t think anymore. Then the orgasm hits me and it’s powerful and I wrap my arms around Naruto’s neck and rest my forehead on his shoulder. I register someone moaning and I know it’s me, but it’s painfully good how he makes me feel and he is still moving in me, but from the way he loses rhythm I know he is close too. When it finally hits him he starts trembling hard like in our first night and I know I’m still shaking too, but this was so intense that we need more minutes than usual to breathe normally again.

    I raise my head from his shoulder and his hair is ruffled, cheeks rosey, but he smiles at me. I smile too, because you can’t stay serious when Naruto Uzumaki smiles and he starts giving me little pecks on my forehead, nose and cheeks while he hums like a mantra “I love you, I love you, I love you”.

    We clean ourselves and I wait for him under the covers on that cozy mattress until he comes from the kitchen with two mugs of mulled wine and a plate of pumpkin pie.

    “This is what you were baking?”

     “Yes” he declares smugly.

    I take one bite of that pie and moan in pleasure:

     “Oh my God, Naruto, this is good”.

    He grins:

    “And the mulled wine? Is it too flavoured? I’ve never tried making this before.”

    I sip from the mug and it tastes so different than sake or normal wine. It’s flavoured indeed, but it makes my brain dance.

    “It’s good. What did you put in it?”

     He scratches his nape:

     “Cinnamon, star anise, apples and a little bit of sugar.”

    “We’ll celebrate Christmas from now on” I declare seriously, as if this was again the time I spoke about my revolution.

     He starts laughing hard, but I can feel how happy he is. His chakra hits me in waves, powerful and restless and warm. Naruto is warm by nature and I think that I was most probably like the snow storm outside. Violent, uncontrolled, untamed, chaotic. And the truth is, you can be like that if you want, but you need someone to tell you to slow down and enjoy life. To me Naruto was that person. He taught me to go slow, to trust him, to get used to him making love to me. Because you know, I don’t really know how sex was for others, but to me it was natural like breathing or walking because Naruto made it like that.

     After finishing the pie and the wine we lay on the mattress and Naruto takes me in his arms. I trace circles on his chest and watch the presents that are beautifully wrapped under the tree. I managed to prepare mine in the morning, after he went to the Academy.

    “We’re opening it tomorrow morning, right?” I ask.

     “Yes” he answers kissing the top of my head “are you curious?”

    “Maybe, I feel like a child” I confess.

    He giggles:

    “I know, I can feel it.”

     “You can feel it?” I ask incredulously, propping myself in my elbow to see him better.

    “Yeah” he blushes “I…I know it’s weird, but I can feel you even more in the last time than before. Remember how during the war some people felt what I felt?”

     I nod.

    “Well, I could feel them too. I feel you too. I don’t know if it’s because of the Sage Mode or something else, but since we got together I know if you are upset, or curious, or impatient.”

    I stare at him:

    “How do I feel like now?”

    “Scared a bit. But, like, don’t be. I mean, there is nothing you would feel that’ll make me change my mind about you.”

    I think I blushed a bit:

    “And …umm… a few minutes ago?”

    “Happy” he says smiling.

    “I was happy. I am happy with you.”

    “Then my weird instincts are not mistaking” he chuckles and kisses me. His tongue traces lines over my lower lip until I let him in. And we still kiss like that, unhurriedly, until I settle on his chest again and we fall asleep.

 

    When I wake up in the morning I feel a light pressure on my chest. Naruto is sleeping soundly there, his hair looking like a cat licked it in all directions. I kiss the top of his head and say:

    “Wake up, sleepyhead. You said you want to open the presents.”

    He mewls and starts to stretch over me. I feel his muscles flexing and think that probably for me skin on skin contact with him is my favourite drug. He gives pecks to my chest, then jumps straight to the tree and to his present. Suddenly my heart goes into a frenzy and a list of “what if’s” patter in my brain. I inhale and watch him as he unwraps his present. I put the picture first and when he sees it he goes silent. When I am ready to freak out because he doesn’t react in any way I hear a faint wisper coming from him:

    “Sasuke, how..where did you find this?”

    “In the archives. Shikamaru helped me.”

    “Oh my God” it’s the only thing he says before he starts crying hard, tears falling over the picture. He suddenly jumps to me, hugging me so tight that I struggle breathing a bit.

    “I love it” he says before his voice cracks. I hug him too and tell him:

    “I’m glad you like it.”

    After he calms he asks:

    “Do you know when this is taken?”

    “6 months before you were born. Your mum was already pregnant with you and Jiraiya came in town and wanted to take a picture with them. It’s the only one with all of them.”

    He fixes the three faces that are smiling at him from the frame. I fixed it too when Shikamaru gave it to me. I saw Minato in the war as an Edo Tensei, but it was not the same. It was something that was not supposed to happen, but this world is so fucked up that it happened anyway. But, just like me and Itachi, even if they were not supposed to be there after they died, their presence was needed in a way – to clear the air, to give the chance to say “Goodbye” forever, to give a little peace. But in this picture everything is so different. There is no war, no Edo Tensei, no painful goodbye. It’s Naruto’s family, before Naruto was born. It’s hope and love and smile. And this is why I asked Shikamaru to give it to me – because from now on, from a place in the house that Naruto will choose for the picture their love will radiate like a furnace and will make the longing a little less painful, maybe just a little.

    He goes back to the present and finds the plushie and the hoodie. He blinds me again with his sunshine smile:

    “Burgundy?” he teases.

    “Yeah, if you wear one more blue or orange thing, I’ll go blind”.

    He sticks his tongue out, but puts the hoodie on. Yeah, I picked the right one. He looks sexy in that, _too sexy_. And finally he finds in a small box the limited edition guitar pick and he comes to me again, with the plushie in one hand and the pick in the other and starts kissing me like a mad man. And I respond and in the same time my heart starts to ache in curiosity, because it’s my turn to open my present.

   “Thank you, Sas-ke. I love it. All of them.”

    He nudges my leg:

    “Your turn now.”

    I swallow the lump in my chest and go to my present. It’s a box with millions of snowflakes on it. I start to rip the wrapping paper and then I open the box. I hear Naruto’s voice behind me:

    “It’s funny, cuz I gave you a picture too.”

   And I froze because in the box there are actually two pictures, in a double frame. One is with me and Naruto, smiling at Ino’s engagement party and it’s our first picture together. The other one – I’ve never seen it in my entire life. It’s a picture with my parents and Itachi, but I guess it’s taken before I was born because my brother looks 3 or 4 in this and his hair is short and my mum smiles wide and dad seems less troubled by everything. And I don’t want to cry as Naruto did, but I can’t stop myself and I know he saw me crying already, but I want to hide anyway, so I  go and hug him and hide myself in the crook of his neck and just let the tears go wild for a while.

    “Did you find this in the archives?”

    “Yeah, classified section. I had to promise Kakashi that this will stay in our house. It’s from the top secret files that Konoha has on your clan. It’s the only one, in fact. The others were lost in Pain’s attack or destroyed after Itachi left.”

    I sigh and kiss his forehead:

    “Thank you. I really don’t know what to say. I didn’t know this exists.”

    “Well, you surprised me and I tried to do the same” he jokes.

     I go back to my box because there is something else there. I pick up a strange device with headphones:

     “What’s this?”

     Naruto chuckles:

    “It’s a portable player. Umm” he scratches his nape and gives me a lopsided smile “actually it’s a prototype from Kumogakure. Omoi send it to me cuz he heard I played the guitar. I recorded myself on it so you can listen to music when you feel lonely.”

    I press the play button and put one headphone in my ear and I hear Naruto singing again “Youth Rhapsody”. He adds:

    “There are other songs too there. I just hope it’ll… uh…I don’t know.”

     I stop the player and ruffle his hair:

    “Stop excusing yourself. I love it.”

     He kisses my nose and we’ll probably never be this sappy ever again.

     There is just one more thing in the box and Naruto starts snorting:

     “Why are you laughing?”

     “Cuz probably you’ll finally kill me for this one” he says. I raise an eyebrow and pick from the box a blue T-shirt. On it’s front it’s written with big chunky letters “I DID NOTHING WRONG” and when I turn it in the back it’s another text that actually gets me cracking up  “REVOLUTION BITCHES”.

     “You can wear this in town in the summer” Naruto jokes and we laugh like idiots a little bit more.

     After breakfast we go out in the backyard of our apartment building because Naruto insisted to play with snow. Hope he is happy because the snow has more than 30 cm and judging by the clouds it won’t take long to have even more…snow. We make a snowman, then he starts throwing snowballs at me and we end up in a messy snow fight and it’s funny because Naruto is holding the snowball as he holds his Rasengan and he is not throwing it all the times. Sometimes he just waits until he is near me and just pushes the snow in my jacket screaming “Rasen-snow” and we crack up in that day more than ever.

    And then it’s snowing again and I look at Naruto and smile a bit more and think that even if I was like a snow storm it really doesn’t matter because on Naruto even the most frozen snowflakes in the world are melting.

    And in our house, from Naruto’s night stand 6 pairs of eyes saw our game. 6 pairs of eyes that we’ll never see again in this life, but I hope, I just hope that from where they watch over us they can feel a little piece of our warm happiness.

**THE END**


	8. That time you told me a shinobi endures it all

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys! Sorry for posting a bit later than usual - Christmas shopping kills me :))) :D But, fortunately I'm home now and here it's chapter 8 of FSON.  
> Thank you for last week's comments and yesterday's comments on the XMas Special. ^_^ I am really really happy that you liked it and read it and everytime I get feedback I smile. :D  
> Also, I know I said it yesterday in the notes, but I'll say this today too: Hope you'll have a Merry Christmas around the ones that are dear to you. ^_^ <3  
> See ya next week :D

    Since that night when me and Naruto made love I couldn’t build my walls back. At least not with him. I couldn’t go back to my old kinda cold self because he didn’t give me a reason to. And because I didn’t want to be like that anymore. I wanted to show him a different side of me, a warmer side. Honestly, it was hard at first because I was usually this composed asshole, but he made things easier. I mean you couldn’t be distant with him when he was so honest about his feelings. He got embarrassed by certain gestures or discussions, but not ashamed. We talked about everything and nothing. We talked about his projects, about my mission, about how I could help him to build a new world. It was such a new experience for me. I would wake up in the morning and think that I was in a relationship, that Naruto was my boyfriend and I wouldn’t believe that I got to that point in my life.

    One morning in weekend, when we could stay longer in bed and cuddle ( _yes, I am a cuddler in secret, so what?!_ ), he decided he wanted a bubble bath. So he went to the bathroom, got the water running, filled the tub and threw something in there that made a lot of foam and turned the air in the entire house in something citrusy and sweet. We got in the tub, Naruto leaning against the edge and hugging me from behind. I settled between his legs and felt his heartbeat against my back as I let my head fall on his shoulder. He started tracing circles on my hipbones (he really liked my hipbones).

    “Hey Sas-ke” he said.

    “Hmm?”

    “Did you love me before?”

    I opened my eyes and tilted my head backwards so I could see him better:

    “You mean before we had sex or before I came back to Konoha?”

    He blushed a bit:

    “Both?” he asked with a lopsided smile.

    “I think I might have had feelings for you since the war ended. I mean not just affection because you were my friend. Feelings as in attraction. But I think I ignored them. What about you?” I asked, getting some foam and smudging it on his nose. He chuckled, then went on:

    “I think something happened in the war and in our last battle. When you told me you’ll leave I was sad. I knew that was necessary for you, but I still got sad after. Then I started to miss you and realized that probably if I would have the chance to try something I would.”

    He tried to rinse the foam on his nose with some water.

    “Does this mean that you planned that kiss after Yakiniku?” I frowned at him.

    “Ohh noo” he laughed “I didn’t plan that. As I said before, I was drunk, but not that drunk. I did it mostly based on instinct. You looked sexy.”

    I snorted:

    “You are a sap.”

    He sighted dramatically:

    “I know you expected me to be an idiot even at this, but I can’t be an idiot with you. I think your intelligence started rubbing on me.”

    “Ha ha ha” I retorted ironically.

    “Did you ever thought we’ll end up like this?” he asked then.

    “Absolutely not. I thought I was asexual” I confessed.

    He barked a laugh:

    “You don’t sound asexual to me when we’re doing stuff.”

    “No, I sound gay” I grinned.

    He barked another laugh that echoed in the bathroom:

    “Your secret is safe with me” and he winked at me.

    “However, it feels natural with you. Probably because we are best friends, I don’t know exactly” I added.

    He nodded:

   “It feels the same for me.”

    “You know” I let me fingers roam under the water on his inner thighs “I thought you are gonna be different…in bed.”

    “I don’t get it.”

    I shrugged:

    “I thought you were sloppy and..not that composed.”

    He snickered, letting his hands fall from my shoulders down my arms:

    “I can assure you I am not composed at all. My brain is not doing a very good job when I’m with you.”

    “Yeah, you’re an idiot 99% of the time” I teased.

    He gave me a peck on my nose and I added:

    “And this? What the hell is with you and this sappy gestures?”

    “I feel like it. I feel that you’ll like them too. We were alone for so long, Sasuke. And we needed affection. I know I needed a hug or a peck on the nose from someone, even if I knew I would get embarrassed. And there was no one there to give me those. And when someone came I knew I got past the age to ask for them. And I was a shinobi. They told us to feel nothing.” His eyes were far away in the past. He added:

    “So when I got the chance to be with you I took those things that I’ve never had and gave them to you. Without thinking if it’s actually something you’ll need or not. I know you, I know you’re not that gentle, nor affectionate. But if I would be different with you, it would feel wrong for me and I don’t want that.”

    It felt like he was saying sorry because he was so good to me. It felt wrong. I turned to him, wrapping my legs around his waist. I put my hands on his face to make him look at me:

    “Oi, you idiot. Listen. I am not bothered by the way you are with me, nor by the way we have sex. You’re right, I am not that kind of gentle sappy person. Sometimes I am, but not like you. I also need time to let you in. I let you in already…but…it’s hard for me even when it’s just the two of us. But it doesn’t mean I don’t like it. Just like you I need those things too. Got it?”

    “Y-yeah, got it.”

   I leaned in and kissed him slowly and gently, as I knew he liked. And besides, he was melting in my arms when I did that and he gave me this feeling that for once, there was someone out there to respond to the beating of my heart.

***

    Spring came for real somewhere around the 3rd of April. The rain that had been falling for the last 3 weeks stopped, the mornings and nights got warmer and the sun claimed the sky each day, making Naruto’s eyes two blue hypnotizing orbs and his hair liquid gold. For the past months I took mental notes on how he was able to change the way I felt about him.  He was that boy from before and he was not. He was that messy person I knew and he was not.  And there were some new things I found out about him, things that I’ve never thought I would find out. Like:

  1. Naruto had a huge libido and a huge stamina…..which meant a looooooooo..ooot of sex. Everywhere in the house….2 or 3 times a night. Please don’t make me count how many times a day in weekend because sometimes I would literally lose my mind. Plus I thought my dick would fall off..but whatever. Thanks God he was at the Academy during week days, otherwise I would start to fear for my life expectancy.. _Well, I’m overreacting a bit, but he was needy in terms of sex._
  2. Naruto was indeed a…. _nudist_. A dream bigger that his Hokage dream was the nudist one. He would walk butt naked around the house every damn time he had the chance, flirting with me so much that I would end up in bed with him, aaalthough I swear (not!) that I didn’t want to.



    But I liked him. I liked who I was with him. I don’t know if Kakashi or Sakura figured that we were official and serious about this thing that was going on between us, but even if they knew they kept it a secret. And, as I talked to Naruto before, because spring came it was time for me to leave to the North. It should be something around 2 or 3 weeks journey to go and to return and it was the first time we would be apart after my three and a half years absence. Was I upset or concerned? Not exactly. I knew that thing had to be done and I also thought we needed a few days apart. To let all sink in, because what was going between us was easy, but big and serious in the same time. And it would affect his future, mine and the world’s.

    Now, the question is: was Naruto sad about this? A little. Despite me, who wanted to think and analyse everything that was going on between us, he was already head over heels in it and he didn’t mind. For him things were like they’ve always been, if he felt something with all his heart he would go and pursue it, no matter what. But he knew it had to be done, so he just went with the flow.

    The morning I left he walked me to the Gates. He was quiet the entire time and it made me nervous too. Maybe he thought I won’t come back anymore. Maybe he thought my feelings for him were not that strong. Maybe he thought I will meet someone along the way. I couldn’t figure him out. It was the first time I couldn’t figure him out and it made me itch a bit.

    “So..” he said shoving his hands in the pockets of his pants. He looked at me the same way he looked 3 years ago. With those determined, yet gentle eyes, although in his voice there was hesitation.

    “Is it something wrong?” I asked carefully.

    He sighted, knowing probably that I felt it somehow and he couldn’t keep it away from me:

    “I don’t know…I know you have to leave and that is important for our world and bla bla bla, but…” and he stopped.

    “But?” I encouraged. 

    He seemed pissed off suddenly like a small child who switches from one emotion to another:

    “But I wish there will be a time when you and me won’t have to make sacrifices.”

    “Naruto, a ninja is the one who endures” I told him with a gentle smile.

    He shook his head:

    “I know. But you and me… _we’ve endured enough_.”

    Trying not to drag that and make it more painful than it should be, I hugged him like two friends do (because the guards were watching) and I left him there, following my steps with his azure eyes. His presence burned my back for a long time, until I couldn’t see the Gates of Konoha anymore.

***

    I walked like a robot but somehow managed to keep direction for North. I couldn’t think or better said I couldn’t think of anything except Naruto. When I came back to Konoha I had never thought that this could happen. That we will end up in the same bed..and not just for sleeping. But Naruto, Naruto changed the world, Naruto changed Konoha, Naruto changed me. I don’t think there is someone in this world who would meet Naruto one day and say that he hates him. I just followed him the same way I followed my brother.

  _“We’ve endured enough”…_ Maybe, just maybe this was the reason why I let myself go with the flow, because somewhere in my mind this feeling, that I can’t sacrifice anything anymore, was there. Maybe, just like him I felt that we’ve endured enough. Have we? Was this our limit? Because I felt that with him I can go much further. _With him._

    I felt the same for Itachi. If he had stayed, if those tragedies had never happened I could have kept on going. But Itachi died and left me alone and broken and with a truth that I couldn’t handle. And he trusted Naruto enough to tell him that most probably I would fall and I would need him to save me. Thinking back now I don’t know if Itachi felt somehow that Naruto loved me. Most probably not. It’s hard for me to believe that in those little moments he spent with Naruto he figured things out. But Itachi was very smart and Naruto was very transparent. So maybe he figured things out. Maybe he was looking at us now, smiling. From my family I am sure Itachi would have been the only one who had approved this relationship. And mum I guess…after I would have explained….nor that I could have explained. It didn’t matter anymore, but those thoughts were there anyway. Probably his parents would have supported him from the very start. I’ve read things about Kushina and Minato. I saw Minato in the war and I am pretty sure he would have pushed Naruto to ask me out.

_“Naruto, where were you when I was lost in the dark? I know I’ve asked this before, in my mind, but where were you? Where was I? Because the me who exists today, in this very moment, is so far away from the me from yesterday and million miles away from that me who wanted to kill you and destroy Konoha.”_

    Then it hit me.

    Those “dreams” that Kakashi asked about when Team 7 was formed. I remembered again Naruto’s obnoxious orange suit and Sakura’s red dress and long hair. Naruto talked about ramen and the Hokage. Sakura talked about me. I talked about my brother and my clan. “ _Naruto is the only one who will achieve his dream. Sakura never had me and I’ll never restore my clan if I choose Naruto_.” But was I bothered by that? Was I bothered by the fact that my dream would fail? Honestly, no. I knew I should be, but I wasn’t. Not anymore.

    When the members of the clan came after Itachi in that last day of our existence as a family, he lost his mind and told them that the obsession for the clan and the lineage enslaved them. That the clan, our damned clan was creating nothing else but irrational fears.

    Naruto was the only Uzumaki. Well, it was Karin too, but Naruto never talked about his clan. He talked about other clans and respected them, but never about his. Maybe he thought just like Itachi. Because without the clan obsession he was free to think, free to choose. And maybe this was the thing that Itachi wanted to say. That we were trapped in our clan’s name, our clan’s mistake, our clan’s history. Madara. Obito. Shisui. Itachi. We stumbled on our own names along the way. We couldn’t see the sky because we couldn’t lift our heads up due to our clan’s weight on our shoulders. As a clan we loved, but we hated more. We fell in love, strongly, irrevocably, but we didn’t know how to forgive. And most probably this was the reason why all the love that we felt turned into hatred. Destructive hatred. Limitless hatred. And there was a part of me, even back then, when I had  wanted to destroy Konoha that was very aware of the fact that the Sharingan meant love, but not forgiveness. It was indeed a power that helped you see the world, but not understand it completely.

    And at the end of it Naruto was the one who felt the effects of this power. He saw everything that the Sharingan meant. From destructive hatred to love. Or I hoped that he felt my love for him. He was very transparent from the beginning, but I was still not completely sure if he was aware of the fact that I loved him like I’ve never loved anyone before. And most probably never will. This was my last stop, Naruto. No one before, no one after. Even if Naruto meant the death of the Uchiha clan, he had always been  the one I would die for. The one I would sacrifice the future of the clan for. But there was a part of me who was proud of it – that the last Uchiha died because he loved an Uzumaki. I would have never told Naruto about these things, because I am quite sure he would do anything to make me walk away, just because he knew what the clan meant to me. But even if I would have never told him, I knew and that was enough.

    I thought about these things during the lonely nights of my journey. From time to time I would remember the places I had visited before, during my Taka or Hebi days, and with them the feelings I had felt before. And they were completely different. I was different. And that was because in the center of my universe there was now a blonde guy with azure eyes and a smile brighter than the sun.

***

 

_ Naruto’s POV _

    Sakura was sipping tea in my kitchen, scanning everything around with her teal eyes. It was Sunday, two weeks after Sasuke left. I sighted remembering him.

    Sakura put the mug on the table and raised her eyebrows:

    “Naruto, what’s going on?”

    I shrugged:

    “What do you mean…? Nothing is going on.”

    She gave me a strong sassy eye roll:

    “Naruto, when you were little if something was wrong you would talk too much. Now you grew up a bit and if something is wrong you are too quiet. So, tell me, what’s going on?”

…

    She scanned my face again, touching my cheek with her long fingers:

    “Hey, you know you can talk to me. It is something wrong with Sasuke?”

    I blushed a bit. She knew me too well. She read me to well.

    “Uhm…yeah..”

    “Had you guys fought again before he left?”

    I shook my head, frowning:

    “No, no..it’s just…uhh” I sighted.

    She snorted:

    “Ok, something is wrong, cuz you act like a little girl in love and I’ve never saw you like that.”

   “Saaaa-kuura-chaan” I whined.

    “What?! Tell me or I’ll make fun of you.”

    I pouted and crossed my arms.

    “You act like a kid” she replied.

    “I miss Sasuke.” I confessed.

     Her eyebrows raised a bit, then she smiled gently:

    “Of course you miss him. I miss him too. We’ve got used to him being here, right?”

    I scratched my nape:

    “Yeah…that and….”

    “And?” she encouraged.

    I knew that Sasuke would definitely kill me when he would return and find out that I had told Sakura about us, but I needed to talk to someone. And Sakura was the only one I would dare to talk about…you kno…sex.

    “And we..I mean I.. we…”

    She seemed confused:

    “You what?”

    I started to blush furiously and she gasped, hands covering her mouth:

    “OMG! Is this? You?”

    I didn’t know what to answer while she kept staring at me mumbling nonsense. She just inhaled and asked clearly:

    “Did you and Sasuke had sex?”

    I nodded, still blushing like hell. I could feel it. Damn!

    She smiled, pinching my cheek:

    “But Naruto, that’s great. Why are you so ashamed?”

    “I’m not ashamed. I just thought that maybe you are disgusted or something.”

    She frowned:

    “Disgusted that you and Sasuke had sex? Come on, Naruto. I knew since he came back that there’s something going on between you two. Then you told me you kissed him. I expected something to happen.”

    “But he is the boy you loved.”

    She smacked my head:

    “You idiot, I think I made it clear the last time. So, how was it?”

    I blinked:

    “How was what?”

    She laughed:

    “Oh my God, Naruto. I wonder how you figured out that he likes you. You’re so dense. How was sex with Sasuke?”

    I blushed again, while she had this composed doctor poker face:

    “Ummm…Saakuraa-chaan, seriously.”

    “If you don’t tell me, I’ll go and tell Kakashi-sensei that you and Sasuke had sex.”

    My voice raised 10 octaves:

    “OH hell NO! That old perverted man will make fun of us and Sasuke will kill me!!”

    “Then spit it” she added eyes flickering mischievously.

    “It was …um.. I don’t know how sex is supposed to feel with a girl, but with him was…good. Both ways.”

    “BB-both ways?”

    Ha! Now she seemed finally confused. Finally, I knew something more than her. I wiggled my eyebrows:

    “What Sakura? You don’t know what both ways means?”

    She gave me a threatening look and I started to fear for my life:

    “Ok, ok” I raised my hands in defense “I mean I did it to him and he did it to me. Happy now?”

    Pause. She kinda look like Shikamaru when he’s coming up with one of his genius plans. When she figured out she grinned:

    “OH MY GOD. I can’t believe Sasuke let you do that. He is always so in control.”

    I started to blush again. I was talking to Sakura about my sex life with Sasuke. _I’m fucked._

    “Yeah…well, honestly speaking now, I like when he lets me take control. I feel like that is the only time when he lets go.”

    “He loves you” she observed “otherwise I’m sure he wouldn’t have let you do that.”

    I scratched my nape again, giving her a lopsided smile:

    “I love him too. I really do.”

    Sakura stood up and came to me. She hugged me tightly, her cherry blossom perfume dancing in my lungs. She confessed, voice a bit shaky:

    “You don’t know how happy I am for you two.”

    “Are you crying, Sakura?”

    She giggled:

    “A bit. But I am happy, don’t worry.”

    She went back to her tea, sipping again:

    “So, you miss him. Did he tell you when he’ll be back?”

    “No, but he said the day after tomorrow he wants to visit Orochimaru’s hideout to ask him something.”

    She nodded:

    “He trusts that guy….It kinda freaks me out.”

    I grimaced:

    “Yeeeah, me too. But Sasuke trusts him. And he is the only one he is afraid of. So, I guess it’ll work.”

    “Hey Naruto! Do you know where that hideout is?”

    “Yeah, why?”

    She smiled widely, eyes glistening in excitement:

    “Why don’t you go and wait for him there? Say something like Kakashi sent you or shit and go see him.”

    It took me a few seconds to figure what she was suggesting.

    “Oh….SAKURA CHAN, that’s a great idea!!” I barked.

    She started laughing and my heart started beating faster, because I missed him and now I could get to him sooner and make it seem like a coincidence.

***

_ Back to Sasuke’s POV _

    It turned out that my journey to the North was good for my thoughts, but not for Konoha. Better said, in the cave I found just a scroll that Kaguya had left and in which there was not much. I could read it with my Rinnegan and it was just a message she left saying that she will “harvest” this world and there is no need for anyone else to come. Where there “more” to come? Creatures like her? Were we in danger again? Could we expect one day for a giant rabbit to pay us a visit?

    I was kinda annoyed. It was like this bitch world didn’t want do let us live. Always, every damn minute something should go wrong, as if, if we were happy for more that 5 minutes it would have been a problem. _Fuck it!_

    I wanted just to go to that damn Orochimaru, talk to him about this and other things I needed to find out and then  go back to Naruto. He was damn right saying that we’ve endured enough. We did, but it was no way out even if we decided one day that we don’t want to endure anymore. But could we run away? I probably could, but he couldn’t. And honestly, I didn’t want to imagine going away again, for more that 2 weeks and staying without him. For me it was like I would go back to a point in my life that was worse than the present. Yes, the present was painful. Itachi was dead, I made some huge mistakes, Konoha was not my home anymore, the world had lost many people. But still, in all this mess Naruto was still alive. He was there, waiting to shoot me with his azure eyes, and that was enough to keep me going. But a world without him, I guess that would be the end for me. The breaking point. I just hoped that I would never reach that day.

    While I was getting closer to Orochimaru’s hideout I started to feel Naruto’s warm chakra. It was kinda annoying because I knew he was in Konoha, but still I felt his sunny warmy giddy chakra burning me and I thought that I was starting to act like a damn teenager in love or in heat. It depends. A few steps away the entrance and even my lungs were filled with his orange-y smell. I scanned the forest. If someone was trying to deceive me like this it was the stupidest idea ever. I was pissed off by the idea that someone would even try to use him as a bait to get me. I was ready to express my disgust and to start provoking the moron to show himself when I heard a chuckle behind a tree:

    “Your menacing chakra could destroy the world, Sasuke.”

    And there he was. Blonde hair shining in the warm  light of the spring sun, two azure orbs burning me and his wide smile changing the atmosphere, making the air easy to breathe and life easy to live. It was him. There was no doubt. My moon tattoo was burning too, resonating with his sun tattoo, so it was Naruto, no mistake. But why? Why was he here?

    “What are you doing here?” I asked, sounding more confused than I wanted to.

    He took a few steps closer to me, shrugging:

    “I missed you. I could lie to you and say that Kakashi sent me here with a mission, but the truth is I missed you and I came here for you.”

    I stood there, in the middle of the forest in a sunny april day, watching the most beautiful person in my life and in this world, telling me that he missed me. He missed me. I was thinking to tease him and play it differently, but I knew he knew. Naruto knew when I was touched by him. And we weren’t enemies anymore. There was no reason to lie.

    I went near him and leaned in so close that I could feel his breath hitching a bit in surprise:

    “So you missed me, huh?”

    He swallowed:

    “Y-yeah..”

    “Yeah?” I teased, leaning more until I brushed my lips over his. He let a moan escape his throat and grabbed the back of my head forcefully, pulling me into a passionate kiss, that made me lose my mind and forget I was the one who wanted to tease him. When we stopped to catch our breaths, foreheads touching he smiled and whispered:

   “I missed you so much”.

   I smiled back then added:

    “Tsch, you sap. Now we’ll have to go to the King of Weirdness together.”

    He rolled his eyes:

    “How hard that can be?”

    “You mean how weird can he get if he finds out we are together? I don’t think I wanna figure out.”

    He chuckled.

 

    At the entrance of the hideout Captain Yamato talked for a bit with Naruto, then we entered. He was confused by the visit, but Naruto  convinced him that it wasn’t something to worry about.

     The hallways smelled like hospital and the air was thick. Naruto shrugged behind me at a certain point, mumbling something along the ways of “Geez, this is creepy as fuck.” I was used to it. Orochimaru’s hideouts were always like that. There was a strange smell in the air that made your stomach clench and the hair on your nape stand up. I have never felt fear in the years I was with him, even if I was 12. But, I felt this creepy aura, like my body knew before my brain that something was inhuman, that I was talking to a creature that I couldn’t fully identify. We arrived at the door of his office. When I wanted to reach, the door opened on its own, making Naruto curse behind me.

    “Ah, Sasuke-kun. What a pleasure” Orochimaru said with his raspy voice. He was standing behind his desk, hair longer than I remembered. He seemed more feminine than the last time, but his snake yellow eyes fixed and analysed me the same as before. He raised his eyebrows when he saw Naruto behind me:

    “Ahh, you brought the future Hokage here. What a surprise.”

    Naruto grimaced and shrugged again, probably trying to shake off the weird sensations his own body was giving him.

    “Why are you here, Sasuke-kun? Perhaps you need help with something?” he said in a seductive voice.

   “I told you I need you only for informations. Nothing more.” I declared.

    “Very well. I’ll call Karin.”

    The moment he finished the sentence the door of the office opened and Karin with Suigetsu and Juugo rushed in, all making a chaos by greeting me and Naruto. Karin was the only one that hugged Naruto, most probably because they were from the same clan and after she met him she was fascinated with his warm sunny chakra. Her hair was shorter and she shaved one of her sides. Suigetsu was nosy as always but his eyes drifted from time to time to Karin. Juugo was the same.

    Karin started to talk, sitting on the sofa that was in the office:

    “No traces of Kaguya anywhere. No traces of Zetsu or other creatures. I think that was that. We didn’t find anything weird.”

    “I found a scroll in the North, but I can read it with my Rinnegan and it’s not clear if sometime in the future something will attack us.”

    “So I guess we just need to be prepared” Naruto added.

    Suigetsu, Karin and Orochimaru fixed him with their eyes. He stared back at them until I growled:

    “Karin. Stop it.”

    Suigestu grinned, his purple eyes glistening when he talked:

    “But we didn’t do anything Sas, we were just curious. Why is Naruto here?”

    Orochimaru’s amber orbs fixed on mine, then moved on Naruto, then back on mine. For a brief moment it seemed like I could hear him processing everything and figuring things out. He was not stupid. He was an old immortal creature and he knew me enough.

    “Interesting” he stated.

    Karin turned to him:

     “As in?”

    He got up from his chair and came closer to Naruto.

    “Tell me, Karin, how is Sasuke’s chakra today?”

    Karin frowned, confused:

    “What do you mean, it’s like alwa-“ and then she stopped, mid sentence, her red eyes widening “oh”.

     Suigestu started laughing:

    “Oh come on, cut the crap, you both. Sas it’s the same cold ass like always.”

    But Karin and Orochimaru didn’t “cut the crap”. They were madly staring at Naruto, until he snapped:

    “Did you took some drugs? Why the hell they stare at me like that, Sasuke?”

    I wanted to break their necks. I was always suffocated by Orochimaru’s obsession for me and my clan, but now, that his attention was on Naruto I started to feel territorial. I didn’t want Naruto to be the center of that old snake’s curiosity. Suigetsu simplified things observing with a grin that showed his sharp teeth:

    “Oh I get it now. Sasuke has been doing _stuff_ lately and by stuff I mean _Naruto_.”

    Naruto’s face instantly went tomato red while Karin eyes were so wide that I thought they might fell off their orbs. I threw Suigetsu a death stare and growled:

    “That is none of your business.”

    “Let’s calm down kids, Sasuke’s sexual orientation is not that important” Orochimaru added, waving his right hand absently. Like he was not staring as a mad scientist a few seconds before.

    I sighted and Naruto’s cheeks slowly got their normal color back. But I knew that with Suigestu and Karin there it was not over yet. By the time I finished my thought the shark boy barked, nudging Naruto’s shoulder:

    “So, who is doing who?”

    Karin, who managed to calm down from earlier smashed him in the face, making his head turn into water, just to came back to his usual form in seconds:

    “What the fuck is wrong with you, woman?!” he barked at her.

    “You fucking idiot. Keep your mouth shut.”

    “That is not what you tell me in bed, honey!” Suigetsu added, in a low seductive voice.

    Naruto gasped, while Orochimaru gave them a disgusted eye roll, as if he was the most normal person in the world and the fact that Karin and Suigetsu were hooking up was the most unrefined thing his educated ears have ever heard.

    Karin grabbed Suigestu’s nape and shook him enough to smash his brain in the skull. He started to laugh histerically while she was spewing all sorts off obscenities, until he said something along the lines of “you kno I love you, bitch” and she started to laugh with him.

    Orochimaru was back at his office watching us with his cold analytic eyes. There was something in them that I have never thought it could be. I guess it was much to say that it was a warm light, but it was that look that he had at the end of the war when he watched me. That look that said he was done being the center of attention, that look that said he still wanted to find the truth about existence, but he was ready to take another path.

    Suigetsu grabbed Naruto’s arm and pulled him along with Karin to show him around. My blond’s blue eyes searched mine, but he walked away. I turned to Orochimaru. He seemed far away now, staring at the papers in front of him:

    “So you gave up the pink haired kunoichi that was crying for you in the war and you picked an Uzumaki. A man.”

    “You’re interested in my sexual choices now” I snorted.

    “Not exactly” he continued, looking into my eyes “I am interested in you. Because if I am not mistaken, you chose this guy over your clan.”

    “My choices belong to me.”

    “Oh, trust me, I know. Let’s just say I am completely fascinated. The war changed you. Hell, the war changed everyone. But to see you being so in love with someone that your chakra started resembling his and resonating with his every movement, that is something I’ve never imagined I would see.” His eyes were now completely black, pupils dilated as if the observations he made were like a new drug.

     “I didn’t came to ask you to explain the effects Naruto has on me. I came for informations. And if you want to still be able to give them and do your experiments, from now on we’ll talk only about this and nothing else.”

     My blood was boiling in my veins and the Sharingan was boiling in my eye when I watched him. I accepted a limited number of people in my life. Three exactly: Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi. They were there from the beginning and they will be there always. Orochimaru and his crazy mind was not on the list. And I trusted him to help us and do our dirty work and keep his activities on limits, but that was all.

    He dropped the subject and kept the discussion on the path I wanted. After 15 minutes Naruto came back with Suigetsu and Karin. They were laughing at something that Naruto said, but they stopped when they felt the tension in the room.

    “Uhhh, we interrupted the gloomy boys.” Suigetsu snorted. “I mean the boy and the girl.” He added with a bark, mocking Orochimaru probably.

    “Do you have a death wish, fishy?” Orochimaru asked  with a feral voice, liking his lips as if he was ready to eat Suigetsu and not in the sexual way.

    Karin grimaced:

    “There you go. If the tongue game is so strong we won’t eat tonight. He’s going to dissect something exactly before dinner.”

    Naruto was mortified:

    “We won’t stay for dinner, right Sasuke?”

    “You’ll go and eat him instead, right?” Suigetsu observed, lights playing in his eyes. He was a teasing machine, but so was Naruto.

    “The same way you’ll eat Karin, right?” he retorted.

    Karin punched both of them, then turned to me:

    “Take your gay back home.”

    Orochimaru let out a strange rusty sound, similar to a laugh. It was not his “crazy mad laugh”, he was making efforts to giggle or something. I stood up and declared:

    “Don’t worry Karin. We’ll leaving.”

    “But you’ll visit us more often, now that you’re back.” She said, warm gentle eyes fixing me.

    I smirked:

    “If he” and pointed towards Orochimaru “keeps his tongue in his mouth, yeah.”

    On the way out of the hideout, Suigetsu and Naruto kept on joking with each other, while Karin walked near me.

    “You seem happy.” She said slowly, trying probably not to provoke me.

    I studied her:

    “And you’re not jealous anymore.”

    She shrugged:

    “I have someone else” she said, her crimson eyes glancing at Suigetsu, who felt her look and smiled widely at her, all his shark teeth glimmering in the dim light of the hallway.

    “He is an idiot.” I observed.

    “Yours too” she added.

    I snorted. Karin, Suigestu and Juugo, who left us earlier having something to deal with, were some people that have seen me in my worsts states. They never felt the effect of those (actually Karin did) but not to the extent Naruto had. Some people may say they were villains or that they were bad people because they followed Orochimaru. Years ago I would have thought the exact same thing. That there are only good people and bad people. That there is only light and dark. But the truth is different. There is light in dark and dark in light. There is good in evil and evil in good. Naruto was light now, but there was a time in his life when the demon inside him pulled him into the dark. And it was the same for me. I was closer to light now, but I explored the dark in his worst corners. Change was possible only through forgiveness. And forgiveness, just like light and dark, was in us.

    At the entrance of the hideout, away from Captain Yamato’s vigilent eyes Karin gave me and Naruto a hug. While he was in her arms Naruto said:

    “If you ever want to walk away from Orochimaru, tell me.”

    I knew it was his way of protecting the only other person alive from his clan.

    Karin nodded. When Naruto shook hands with Suigetsu he told him to take care of her.

   “If she doesn’t kill me first, I will” Suigetsu joked, but the way he looked at Karin made me believe that indeed it was something stronger between them.

    When we lost ourselves in the woods, where no one could see us, Naruto took my hand in his, letting out a satisfied sight at the warm touch. My heart skipped a beat, reminding me that, willingly or not, I was in love with him.

 


	9. Crimson and onyx, cerulean and honey, rose and teal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Hope you had a Merry Christmas! ^_^  
> Thank you for all the comments/kudos you sent me for the last chapter. As always feedback brings me joy <3 :D  
> Chapter 9 is here and I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did when I wrote it. :D  
> Also, happy that 2018 will soon be over, cuz this year was kind of a bitch to me :)) too many ups and downs, but let's hope that 2019 will be different. So, I wish you a Happy New Year full of love, health, happiness and dreams that become reality. :)  
> Don't forget feedback makes me happy and I'll see ya next year ;)

    Entering Konoha again, this time with Naruto’s hand wrapped around mine remembered me of the days I arrived back home from school, passing by the Uchiha compound gates. It was night when we arrived, so I didn’t let go of Naruto’s touch, although I am pretty sure the guards have seen us. _Fuck them!_

    The closer we got to the door of the apartment, the more I could sense the salty smell of tomato soup. While Naruto was searching for his keys in his pockets I glanced at him:

    “Did you make tomato soup?”

    He blinked at me, then a mischievous grin:

    “No, but I asked Sakura to make it this morning. I was sure it won’t take us too long to come back. Don’t worry, the recipe is mine” he hummed opening the door and letting us in. Indeed on the stove there was tomato soup, still steaming. I was ready to eat it, but the blond idiot I was dating had other plans. He turned to me and started getting my coat off, then he moved to the rest of the clothes.

    “What are you doing?” I started chuckling, because he was also tickling me.

    “Oh, Sas. And you said I was the dense one. I am getting you naked.”

    “Why? Are you so eager?” I teased.

    He gave me a fake shocked grimace, then added:

    “I am eager indeed, but I also want to take a bath with you.”

    He finished taking my clothes off, then started throwing his away. It was a big pile of everything near the front door, but he totally ignored them and grabbed my hand, leading me to the bathroom.

    The tub was already filled and steamy and it smelled like oranges (figure!), but as soon as the smell entered my lungs I realised how much I was longing for it during my time away.

    “Don’t tell me you told Sakura about this too?!” I whined while entering the hot water.

    “No, I told Kakashi. God, Sasuke, of course I told Sakura only”.

    I narrowed my eyes at him. We were facing each other in the tub, his hair already wet and pushed away from his face:

    “Do you have to tell me something?” I asked slyly.

    Although his cheeks had already a pinky shade because of the steam and warm water, Naruto was blushing. He did something that he thought I wouldn’t like. I growled, warning him:

    “Naruto..what have you done?”

    He raised his blue orbs into mine and started scraping his nape. He inhaled, exhaled, then confessed:

    “Sakura knows.”

    “Sakura knows what?”

    “That…we..that..” he stuttered and it hit me.

    “Sakura knows we had sex.” I stated, ignoring his mortified look.

    “Y-yea..yeah”.

    He gave me a lopsided smile. He looked cute. I’ve seen him in many states, but now, with his rosey cheeks and foam on his shoulders he was the definition of cuteness. I leaned in, trying to put a menacing look on my face. I could see his mood shifting immediately, as if he was not sure if I was joking or I was going to attack him. It surprised me how easily I could sense Naruto’s mood shifts since I came back. Before, I could only feel when he was defensive or angry, but now I was registering all his moods, but more fascinating was to see the shifts in it. Naruto’s chakra was throwing electricity in the air. I wanted only to tease him, so I gave him a peck on the nose, keeping my menacing look. He let out a sight and I moved to his neck, licking it:

    “What?” I asked innocently “you thought I will be mad?”

    “Saaasss-keee” he whined and threw his arms around my neck. The warm in his chakra was back.

    “Whaaat?” I teased, mimicking his whine.

    “I thought you were mad.”

    “Are you so dense that you can’t sense an innocent joke?” I asked, moving the kissing and licking to the other side of his neck.

    “I can’t figure when you’re joking if your chakra turns into that evil dark bomb” he giggled.

    So this is how it felt when I was dangerous “evil dark bomb”. _Smart description indeed_.  Naruto level, of course.

    I stood up, grabbing the towel. He followed me, drying himself. The moment he was ready I threw him over my shoulder, the same way you throw a bag of potatoes. Naruto let out a gasp of surprise, then started laughing histerically, while I was heading towards the bedroom. He was heavy, but the way his muscles were flexing in that position over mine turned me on. When we got closer to the bed, he slapped my ass hard and I growled, grabbing and throwing him in the bed. He was all a smile, his voice resonating in the entire house, painting the walls in warm colors. Naruto was like liquid happiness to me and now he was watching me with so much adoration, that I thought one day I’ll probably burn under his look. I leaned over him, body over body and he kissed me slowly, moving his hands from my hair, down my spine. I kissed and touched him for a while, my brain remembering his body again. He did the same, caressing my hipbones from time to time. If I ever had problems recognizing him I needed just one thing. To tell him to touch me and if he jumped straight for the hipbones I would definitely know it was Naruto indeed.

    When his breath started to get labored I told him to turn on his belly. He seemed confused so I threw all the shame away and whispered in his year that if I took him from behind it would feel better. He blushed immediately but obeyed. I was hard but I didn’t want to rush things out. I wanted to make him shatter again in my hands, the same way he did in that first night. But, in the same time, I guess I wanted to lose myself in him again, to forget about the world or anything else. I kissed his body, starting from his nape, down his spine and stopping in that little place from the base of his back, just above the ass. Then I went back again, this time licking and biting, until he started shaking under me and begged me to do something else.

    I grabbed the lube and a condom and eased a pillow under his hips to hitch them up a bit. He protested, most probably embarrassed and I retorded, whispering in his ear that it’s me and he has no reason to feel bad in any way. I kept on kissing and nipping his nape or his shoulders while I prepped him. Once or twice I hit his spot and his hips jerked, making me ache for him. Not being able to hold it anymore I put the condom on and started teasing his entrance. He was a mess under me again, his hands grabbing the sheets violently, until his knuckles turned white.

    “Sasuke, please” he moaned.

    I eased myself in him slowly, although my entire body was screaming to go faster. When I was all the way in I let him get used to me. He was tensed and probably felt a little discomfort because his sounds has ceased. Usually, when Naruto was silent he was focusing too much on something. I kissed the back of his ear and asked him if he was ok. He nodded and told me to wait just a little bit more. I nuzzled his hair until he moved his ass upward, telling me I could start thrusting. I went slow, kissing his shoulder and unclenching his hands from the sheet with mine. When he started meeting my movements I went a bit faster, giving in the desire that hit me earlier. Naruto let out a hissed “yes” at a certain point, when I changed the angle a bit and grazed his sweet spot. I forced myself up in my arms and kept on thrusting in that angle that he liked. His moans grew louder with my every move.

    I started to feel dizzy, like Naruto was some sort of really powerful drug that was making me drunk in euphoria. Feeling that I was close to my climax I tried to reach for his member to stroke it, hitting his prostate again and again. But before I was able to touch him Naruto already gave in his orgasm, muffling his screams in the pillows. I rode mine too, until I couldn’t keep myself up anymore and fell over him. We stood in silence for a bit, breaths finding their normal rhythms again. I slipped out of him and he whined:

    “I ruined the pillow and the sheets.” He sounded mortified.

    I chuckled:

    “It’s ok. Let’s change them.”

    I went to the bathroom and threw the condom away, took a towel, cleaned him and then we changed the sheets. Although it was the middle of the night he turned on the washing machine for the dirty sheets and pillows. When he came back I was waiting for him in bed. He threw himself over me, then settled beside, head on my heart. He started drowing circles with his fingers on my chest, his blue eyes having that silky texture that only pleasure give you.

    I knew maybe it was too soon to ask him this, but I itched to know if for Naruto this relationship was something that he was completely sure of or it was just a phase and one day he would wake up and think he wanted someone else in his life.

    “Hey, Naruto” I asked, searching for his eyes.

    “Hmm?” he whispered.

    “Will you spend the rest of your life with me?”

    The moment I let those words out I realised it sounded like a proposal, but I didn’t mind. I mean, Naruto was probably the only person I wanted to spend the rest of my days with. He was the only one I let in and the only one that had the power to break me completely. Losing Itachi and my family was painful. But losing Naruto would have been a different kind of pain, that last stage of complete destruction for me.

    His eyes found mine and analysed me for a few seconds, then with his left hand he brushed the hair behind my right ear, saying:

    “I thought that was already settled.”

    I blinked:

    “Are you serious? You do realise I just proposed to you and you said yes, right?”

    He snorted and gave me an eye roll:

    “Yes, Sas-ke. I am not _that_ dense.”

    I was dumfounded. I was waiting for hesitation or excuses or at least for him to say that it was too soon. Instead, for him everything was clear.

    “How can you be so sure? I mean, what if one day you want kids?”

    He propped his chin in the palm of his hand:

    “Sasuke, I know all the consequences of me being with you. But as you are ready to sacrifice your clan for me, I would sacrifice the kids idea for you.”

   I knew it!! I wanted to say. Naruto thought about me and my clan before.

    “You knew..” I said “about the clan.”

    “Of course I knew. It will always be about your clan. So the question it’s not if I want to be with you for the rest of my life. The question is if you want to sacrifice the future of the Uchiha clan for me.” His tone was rigid, it sounded like  the diagnosis of a terminal disease.

    I frowned:

    “So you’ll just let yourself hurt? Just like that?”

    He shook his head:

    “No, but I can’t make you choose between your clan and me.”

    “Why?!” I retorded, a bit angry.

    His demeanour shifted immediately to that warm, gentle look he had only for me:

    “Because I love you. And because you’re my best friend. If these last months is everything you can give me in this life, that’s fine. I want you to be happy. And if I am not enough, that’s fine. As long as you stay in the light and you don’t go back to your old lost self I will accept to be the one that gets hurt.”

    “Naruto” I whispered and leaned in to kiss him “I’ll never hurt you. And I’ll never give you up.”

    “Are you sure?” he asked.

    “Yes” I answered, voice steady. _I choose you Naruto, I have always chosen you._

    “Then where is my ring?” he teased.

    I started laughing. He was an idiot. I got out of the bed and went to the pile of clothes near the entrance. I rummaged for my coat and found a little box in one of my pockets. I asked someone from the Iron Country to make it for me when I went for the North, and took it on the way back. It was not a ring, but a silver necklace with a very small and delicate Uchiha symbol as pendant.

    When he saw me with the little box his eyes widened:

    “You do realise I wasn’t serious when I asked for a ring, right?”

    I laughed and gave him the box:

    “Open it, you idiot, it’s not a ring.”

    He opened the box, the silver pendant shining in the dim light of the room. He touched the Uchiha fan with his fingers, tracing his curves. When his eyes raised up to search mine I saw the little tears forming in its corners.

    “I don’t have a ring for you and I don’t want you to change your name with mine, nor to give up your Hokage dream or anything else for me. But, this-” and I pointed the symbol “-this is something I am willingly giving to you. Everything that I am. My clan, my history, even my powers.”

    Naruto was now crying, tears falling from his ocean eyes down his cheeks like summer rain.

    “Can you put it for me?” he asked, voice unsteady from crying.

    I smiled:

    “Yes, come here.”

    He turned around and I put it on for him. When he was facing me again I touched the little pendant. It looked good on Naruto’s honey skin.

   I dived in his eyes again, making sure that he knew I was serious when I said “I love you”. I truly loved him. As a friend, as a lover and as anything else Naruto wanted to be.

***

_ Naruto’s POV _

    I woke up in the morning a bit disoriented, but then all the events of the night rushed in. _I basically married Sasuke_ I thought, touching the little silver pendant that was now adorning my skin. I wanted to start giggling the same way Sakura-chan was giggling when she was talking about him, but that would have been stupid even for me. Besides, my _new husband_ was still sleeping on his back, head a little tilted in my way and I didn’t want to wake him up. I looked at him, trying to memorize every piece of his face. Sasuke was beautiful (more beautiful than Hinata if you ask me or maybe it was my fault cuz I was pretty gay for him). His features were drawned in fine and sharp lines: thin delicate nose, narrow lips, thin straight eyebrows. Alabaster skin (too pale). Slick jet black hair. Skinny, yet athletic body. He was sharper in everything than me, especially in personality, but I liked that.

    It was a constant challenge to avoid his sarcasm or to try to change something in his usual demeanour. He was smarter than me, so from time to time I thought I couldn’t surprise him, but in the last months I figured there were times when he let his guard down. Honestly, to me Sasuke was the most himself when all his walls were down. When he was missing his brother or eating tomato soup or letting me take control in bed. Or when he was smiling and laughing at my jokes or Sakura’s. When he was smiling at Kakashi, remembering something from our old days as Team 7. Obviously, the rest of the time he was still himself, but with the touch of a mask. A cold mask that reminded me of that Sasuke that convinced himself so many times that he wanted to kill us all.

    He shifted a bit in bed and opened his eyes, fixing me immediately. One beautiful onyx eye, the other purple from the Rinnegan.

    “How come you woke up before me?” he asked with a sleepy voice.

    “I was too excited I became your husband last night so I couldn’t sleep anymore” I teased him with a grin.

    His look changed in an instant, sensing my challenge:

    “You mean my wife” he retorted, a mocking spark in his eyes.

    “Do I look like a wife to you?” I replied.

    “No, but you sounded like one last night” he added. I swear he was so proud of himself every time he knew he had the advantage.

    “Should I remind you that I took you the first time you ever had sex with someone?”

    He clenched his teeth and his chakra got that dark vibe in it, throwing a menacing spark around, but not enough to make your skin crawl as it used to. Sasuke’s mood shifts, even when he was joking or just playing caused an immediate shift in his chakra too. I was still taken aback sometimes, cuz I couldn’t figure if he was indeed upset or he was just joking, but I guess this was a remnant of the days he stood in the dark. He leaned in and kissed my forehead, a gentle look in his eyes:

    “You can take me every time you want”

    I giggled and he smiled, making my heart ache a bit cuz Sasuke was not smiling much, but when he did it reminded me why I fell in love with him and why I followed him around for so many years.

    We had breakfast together and then I spent the rest of the day at the Academy, talking to Iruka-sensei about “diplomacy in post-war times”, which was a boring discussion to me, cuz I didn’t agree with anything that the previous Hokages had done in post war times. But whatever…

    Around 7 PM I couldn’t focus on anything anymore, so my teacher let me go, although I couldn’t go home yet cuz I had things to settle with Kakashi-sensei too. So I dragged by feet to the Hokage’s office, stomach protesting due to the lack of lunch and dinner.

    Kakashi was drowned in some papers when I entered the office, but he smiled when he saw me:

    “You’re late today” he observed.

    “Too much diplomacy” I confessed.

    “Do you have problems understanding things?” he asked with that voice that reminded me of the days he tried to teach me the change in chakra nature.

    “Not exactly. I have problems accepting things.”

   His eye studied me. He put the papers away and he leaned in his chair:

    “As in?”

    I sat on the chair near his desk and started:

    “I don’t like what the previous Hokages did after wars. I mean, not all the things they did were bad, but some of them were too…” and I stopped. I wanted to say “soft”, but it’s not like what I wanted to bring to the world was a freaking dictatorship, but probably soft was the best word I could find at that hour.

    “Were too…?” Kakashi encouraged.

    “Soft? I mean, not soft. I don’t know. It’s like, you want to make all the people understand each other, but this doesn’t mean you have to be naïve, right?”

    “You think the Third, for example, was naïve after the Kyuubi attack?”

    I pinched my nose. If you had asked me years ago what I think about the regime of the Third I would have said that I know shit about it. But now, when I was so close to become Hokage and after all I studied, I had an opinion.

    “He let to many people do whatever they wanted” I declared.

    Kakashi-sensei seemed intrigued:

    “And those people are…?”

    “Danzo. Fugaku Uchiha. Orochimaru maybe?”

    He nodded:

    “So it’s about Sasuke again.”

    I rolled my eyes:

    “It’s not about Sasuke. Not in the way you think. It’s about politics clearly. The Third had good intentions. He was a pacifist and that it’s not bad. But he knew, like he knew that Danzo was dangerous, that the Uchiha’s maybe wanted a coup-d’etat. He knew. And? I mean, aren’t you supposed to do something if you know the evil is around?”

    He exhaled:

    “In this sense, yes. If you know things you should do something. The problem is that every decision has consequences.”

    “And you think that he didn’t removed Danzo because he was afraid of the consequences? What about the final result? I really think the Uchiha massacre could have been avoided.”

    Kakashi was watching me intensely. The truth is, I’ve seen this look to Iruka-sensei too and I’ve seen it before, when I blurted certain things out. It was this look of surprise? I could say. Of curiosity?

   “So what you say is that if you knew now, for example, that there are people who want to bring Akatsuki back, you’d go and what? Kill them? Punish them?”

    “Capture them. Close them in prison and make them understand that what they’re wishing for is wrong.”

    He snorted:

    “Naruto Uzumaki, this can be a dangerous path. Do you want to make pacifism a movement? Like they’ll have to listen to you or else?”

    I shook my head:

    “No. But what if we don’t admit to ourselves that sometimes there are lost causes?”

    “Akatsuki was a lost cause for you? Obito perhaps?”

    “No. Obito, Nagato, Itachi, Konan. They were not lost causes. But the others, you have to admit they were. C’mon Kakashi-sensei. It’s true that sometimes we are the result of the system, but sometimes the system has nothing to do with the fact that we just want to cause pain.”

    He fixed me, processing everything I said. My head started to pulse. It was indeed too much for my poor brain, but the truth was the discussion got me fired up a bit. And if I wanted to rule one day, I needed headaches like this.

    “I see” he finally said “so you want to threw politics away and just be honest.”

    “If that is the best solution, yeah.”

    “It may be the best solution, but it’s also the hardest.”

    I gave him a lopsided smile:

    “No shortcuts, remember?”

    He laughed:

    “Yeah, no shortcuts. Now, go home. You look tired and your stomach is annoying me.”

    I got up to leave and remembered that I actually came for something else:

    “Oh, Kakashi-sensei. The Hyuga clan? How was my new paper with all the changes and stuff?”

    “Better than the last. But you’ll have to revise a few points. Shikamaru will explain to you tomorrow.”

    “Uh, ok. I’ll go”

    I was a little bit annoyed by the fact that the paper was still not good. That would be the 4th or 5th time I had to revise it. _Shit!_ But if it was needed, then it was needed. I made a promise for Neji years ago. _Neji, Ero-sennin, Itachi, my parents_.. people that trusted me. People that are not here anymore. It was not easy. _It’ll never be_ , I thought. But, I knew now that I don’t have excuses, I knew I didn’t want to give up. I touched the pendant from my neck through the fabric of my shirt. I had one reason not to give up, even more powerful than my dream.

***

 

_ Back to Sasuke’s POV _

    Naruto came back home from the Academy around 9 PM. He looked tired and lost when he entered the kitchen.

    “Is everything ok? You look disheveled” I observed, my eyes searching for any sort of problem he might have.

    “Yeah” he mumbled, scratching his nape “I had to talk to Kakashi-sensei”.

    “About?” I asked while he was pouring some tomato soup for both of us and I was arranging the table.

    “Umm..diplomacy.”

    Diplomacy? Not my strong point….I was not good at solving conflicts like Naruto was, but seeing him troubled by the subject made me curious. While the soup was getting warmer on the stove I ran my fingers through his hair:

    “And you’re having troubles with diplomacy? Isn’t it your strongest point?”

    He catched my hand and kept it in his. His eyes was scanning my face again:

   “It is, but I’m doubting myself a bit.”

    “In what terms?”

   “Like, is it diplomacy or you kno’.. it’s getting closer to some sort of dictatorship…”

    Wow, strong words for him. He looked indeed troubled by the subject. The soup was warm enough so we settled for dinner.

    “You’ll have to explain to me if you want my opinion” I declared.

    He inhaled, then fixed me as he spoke:

    “It was some sort of study case. Like you kno’ what I would have done..politically speaking…after Kyuubi’s attack.”

    I flinched. The politics after the Kyuubi’s attack were the ones that condemned my clan to death. He saw my grimace and waved his hand in the air:

    “We don’t have to talk about this. It’s fine.”

    I sighted:

    “No, Naruto. It’s ok. It’s not your fault. You were just born back then. It’s not you the one who made the decisions.”

    “Are you sure?” he asked carefully.

    I nodded:

    “Yes. So, let’s break it down..this study case or whatever.”

    He smiled:

    “Ok so..I told Kakashi-sensei that I think that ol’man Third made a mistake after the attack letting Danzo do his shit. And..um…your dad. I mean…he knew about Danzo, he knew about the coup-d’etat. But he just let them do whatever crap they wanted.”

    “Oook…and?”

    “And he asked me what would have been my decision in that case. And I said that it could have been avoided. He could capture Danzo or remove him from the Root. Or he could have tried to investigate more and solve things with your dad.” He shrugged and added: “This is basic, obviously. And it was not diplomacy.. it was discussion. Like you and me, you kno’”

    I snorted:

    “You, me and diplomacy aren’t words to fit in the same phrase, Naruto.”

    He rolled his eyes:

    “In the end we did it. It was about listening to the other one.”

    “Ok, so I don’t get it. Were was the problem with Kakashi?”

    “He said that even if I try to make people understand my view, if I force them it will still be a dictatorship.”

    “I don’t see you forcing people to believe in you. I mean what you did with me, at a basic level, wasn’t forcing. I would call it persuasion.”

    He kept silence for a bit, then asked:

    “What would you have done back then, after the attack?”

    I clenched my teeth. That was a question I’d rather avoid. It brought back dark memories, as the bloody image of my brother and Danzo’s smug face and that urge, that morbid urge and joy I felt when I finally killed him. Naruto shivered on the chair and whispered “Sasuke?”.

    I raised my head and glared at him:

    “You know what I would have done” I declared, voice feral. “I would have killed them all” I added.

     “The Third and Danzo? All the villagers in Konoha so that the Uchiha clan was everything that was left?”

    My brows snapped together:

    “Why are you being like this? You know how I feel about those moments. I would have killed Danzo for sure and I don’t know what to tell you about my family. I don’t know what was in my father’s mind at that time that he sacrificed Itachi for that coup d’etat.”

    Silence again. For a while I could hear only his steady breathing. He was fixing the bowl of soup, avoiding my eyes. I pinched my nose. It was not his fault, but I was acting like it was. Because soon he would be on that chair and he would make decisions and I wanted, for a second, to turn back in time years ago, before the attack. If Naruto was the Hokage at that time maybe, just maybe, my parents and my brother would have been here today. But Naruto was just born back then and he suffered because of those decisions as much as I did.

    I sighted:

    “Naruto, you know me. I would be radical. This or that. The idea is not about me. I know this is about your role as Hokage. I’ll help you when you’ll have to make a decision if that’s what you’re worried about. But otherwise, we both know I’ll choose differently. I learned things from you in the last years, but I’m still me.”

    He finally raised his blue orbs. He ran one hand through his hair:

    “Do you think I’m being too soft? As in becoming naïve?”

    “Your ideas are pretty much similar with the Third’s, but I don’t think he was naïve. I’m pretty sure if there were people to punish you would punish them and if there would be another way to redeem, you’ll give them the chance.”

    “Do you think I’ll succeed?”

    “Are you doubting yourself? Why?”

    He shrugged:

    “I don’t know. Kakashi made me think of things.”

    I grimaced:

    “Kakashi, Tsunade and all are from a different generation. Me, you and Konoha 11 are another generation. They’ll have to learn to deal with our way of doing things and we’ll have to understand that it’s necessary to learn from their mistakes.”

    I stood up and went near him, pushing his chair behind so I could straddle him. While I was caressing his cheeks I told him:

    “Don’t doubt yourself about this. I mean, you could still doubt that you’re better than me” I smirked “but not about the Hokage thing. I could be an asshole as always and tell you that you suck as a leader, but I would definitely lie.” I leaned in and kiss him slowly, licking his lips so he could let me in. He moaned in pleasure.

    “Are you being nice to me? Why?” he teased.

    I snorted:

    “Maybe I like being nice with you sometimes. Only sometimes.”

    “Your mask is down again” he observed.

    “Tsch, don’t get too proud of yourself.”

    He chuckled:

    “I promise I won’t, although I have to say you’re sexier when you let yourself go.”

    I pinched his ear and he flinched:

    “I’m an Uchiha, you idiot. We don’t let ourselves go like you do.” But I was joking and he knew that. He always knew.

 

    In early June Sakura moved to another house, letting go of the apartment that was her home after the war. She had thousands of boxes and she asked me and Naruto to help her move some of them in the weekend. So, according to the plan we skipped our normal cuddling session one Saturday morning and went to help her. The house was big, with one floor and it was closer to Konoha Hospital where she was working. While I was struggling to bring a box in her kitchen, that lacked any type of furniture, Naruto was cursing like a barbarian, not being able to lift and move another box. Sakura smacked him in the head and innocently declared that she had “basic stuff” in those boxes. Personally, I have no idea what basic stuff meant to her because all her boxes were damn hard to carry.

    Naruto bent to lift another box, making the necklace that I gave him slip out of his blue T-shirt and dangle in the air. Sakura catched a glimpse of it and immediately her neck snapped towards Naruto. She took the little pendant in her hand and her eyes grew ten times bigger when she recognized the symbol. She was keeping Naruto in place, like a dog in leash and she gasped:

    “OH MY GOD?!”

    Naruto, who was dumbfounded by her violent reaction, started fumbling, not being able to understand the situation. I got it. We kept this low profile for a while and we were lucky. Now it was done. Sakura basically dragged him by his necklace until she got closer to me, her teal eyes burning. I put the box down, getting ready for the avalanche of questions. Naruto squeaked:

    “Sasuke? Why is she like that?"

    I threw him a death glare:

    “Your necklace, you idiot!”

    Sakura grabbed the collar of my T-shirt:

    “Did you give it to him? Are you getting married? Why didn’t you tell me? Am I not someone that can be informed you two are getting married?”

    The flow of obviously embarrassing questions went on, while Sakura was cornering both of us. Naruto told me one night that she’ll probably murder us for keeping the necklace thing a secret. He was right for once. While Naruto was trying to make up some idiotic explanation, blurting stupidities out, I heard steps coming down from the first floor. Sakura was just finishing her speech about me being a “secretive asshole” when a half naked Kakashi, with no mask and a messy “post-coital” hair and eyes sleepy grunted:

    “Honey, what is this mess?”

    Silence fell over the entire scene like a Bijuu bomb. At first, Naruto’s brain couldn’t register who the half naked guy was, but when he did his mouth fell open. Kakashi rubbed his eyes for a bit, then realised that Sakura was not the only one in the room. As for the girl in Team 7, she was now getting crimson red. My head snapped towards Naruto and he nodded, reading my mind. She tortured us with painful questions in the last 5 minutes and it was pay-back time. She raised her hands up in defense and started walking backwards and we followed her like two wolves ready to massacre their prey.

    “So, Sakura” Naruto started with a creepy grin on his face that was making him look like Kyuubi “tell us. Why is ol’man Kakashi in his underwear in your house?”

    “Yeah Sakura” I added “I don’t think I am the only “secretive asshole” around…”

    “Well you are a secretive asshole cuz I really wanted to know that you shove your dick up in Naruto’s ass from time to time” Kakashi intervened, making me flinch in disgust and Naruto let out a mortified groan.

    “Ohh holy shit. This is why we kept this secret.”

    “You mean you didn’t tell your only sensei that you are sucking each others dicks?” the present sensei snorted.

    I slapped my forhead hard, while Naruto was turning into tomato red.

    Then, out of nowhere, Sakura started laughing histerically, her sweet voice echoing in the empty kitchen. Naruto followed her and soon me and Kakashi did the same. This was probably the most embarrassing situation I’ve ever been in since the day me and Naruto accidentally kissed in Academy. Well, you could say this was a whole new level, cuz Sakura, that Sakura that was infatuated with me, was sleeping with the Sixth Hokage, that Sixth Hokage that was (still) reading porn.

   When the embarassement went away Naruto cleared the “necklace situation” while Sakura explained that she and Kakashi were already dating by the time I returned in Konoha last autumn. That explained why I found her in his office so often.

    “Still, how secret do you want to keep this?” Kakashi asked, pointing Naruto’s Uchiha necklace.

    “Better said for how long. It’s not secret anymore. Someone couldn’t keep her mouth shut” I said, glaring at Sakura.

    “Oh, come on” she snapped “if it wasn’t for Naruto you would have never told me.”

    “Because it’s not your business” I retorded, mocking my words from the old days with a smirk on my face.

    Naruto and Sakura started laughing, while Kakashi sighted and confessed:

    “Ahh, have I told you I love you guys?”

    “Ewwww” Naruto whined “I hope you don’t want to love me and Sasuke the way you love Sakura-chan”.

    Sakura smacked his head, then turned to me:

    “Your gay is vulgar”.

    I teased her:

    “At least my gay is not reading porn on a daily basis.”

    It is useless to say that we bickered and teased each other the entire day. When we got home that night, Naruto was still shocked:

    “Can you believe it? And have you seen him? He is damn sexy.”

    I raised one eyebrow:

    “Did you just say that another man beside me is sexy?”

    He started blushing and mumbling some nonsense but I silenced him with a kiss. A strong shiver passed his entire body and he moaned, grabbing my hair. I smiled, my lips still touching his.

    “You’re not afraid” I said.

    He frowned:

    “I’m not afraid of what?”

    I ran my fingers through his hair:

    “Of falling for me.”

    He smiled:

    “That is something I’ll never be afraid of” he declared.

    “Why?”

    “Why? Because I’ve never been afraid of being your friend. Why would I be afraid of loving you?”

    I didn’t know what to say, I didn’t know what to think anymore. And that was because Naruto had this huge power over me, changing everything in my life, especially in the last time. And he was not afraid of hurt, not afraid of falling, not afraid of being denied or betrayed again, like some unknown voice was speaking only for him, telling him that no matter what I would think or feel it was impossible for me, from that moment on, to betray or leave him. Ever again.

 


	10. The day Naruto became Hokage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys! Hope you had a wonderful New Year beginning. ^_^  
> Again, thank you, thank you, thank you for the comments/kudos you left <3\. Honestly, I've never thought my first experience as a fanfic writer will be so good :))) (maybe I underestimated myself, I don't know).  
> Chapter 10 is here and it's basically "The Day When Naruto Became Hokage" remastered from Sasuke's POV. Plus, the song featured is "Certain Things" by James Arthur. It's an old song but I found it accidentally on Youtube and started being obsessed with the lyrics. :)))  
> Enjoy and you know already - any type of feedback makes me happy and see you next week for the final chapter *starts sobbing*

    It took Naruto only two more years to finish his studies, complete his Jounin missions and finally fulfill his biggest dream.

    It took me the same amount of time to realize that loving him wasn’t making me weaker, as I thought before, but stronger. Besides, those two years were also some sort of accommodation years for me because I needed to get used to being with Naruto every day, to sleep with him, eat with him and breathe his scent every second. He was also very touchy and needy at times, leaning in in the most unexpected moments to give a peck on the lips or to brush the hair out of my face or to caress any part of me that suddenly was interesting for him. It’s not like he didn’t do that before, in those months when we got together, but I found it.. not exactly hard to deal with..but unexpected. He also took me by surprise once or twice, as in I was ready to punch him in the face. Obviously, he pouted, called me a “cold asshole” and ceased any type of contact for the next 30 minutes. _I swear I counted. That was the idiot’s limit: 30 minutes_. Then he would come near me, sigh dramatically and mumble a “sorry if I took you by surprise.” I wondered how he had managed to survive without me in those years when I was away.

    Actually, that was another part of the story. Jokes aside, when the war ended and we finally managed to make things work between us in that morning at the Valley of the End, I  had thought I understood Naruto. But the truth was, I only understood a part of him. Naruto’s heart was vast. You could easily label him as a very simple guy, but he was not. Sometimes we would have really complex discussions and I would stare at him for seconds, dumbfounded by the amount of nuances he could give to his own feelings. _Like who was that guy? Was he the same Naruto I knew?_

    He had a power to register feelings easily and it was such a natural drive for him to talk about everything he felt. I still couldn’t do that. At least not in the way he was doing it, but I told him about my longing for Itachi and about the way I felt after everything I’ve done. In those moments he would fix me with his blue orbs like he wanted to imprint my image and my words in his brain. He would just listen, without interrupting me, until his instinct would tell him that I didn’t want to talk about that subject anymore. And what surprised me even more was that, after talking to him the grip on my chest would loosen, the ache in my heart would become bearable and I would feel just peace. Well, Naruto was peace in a way. For me, for the world. From time to time I would watch him moving in our kitchen, doing simple things like cooking or washing the dishes and wondered how much further he could go.

    But probably, the most interesting thing that downed on me was the way Naruto imprinted on me. The way his presence became a part of me, just like my arm or my eyes. I would wake up in the middle of the night and shift in bed, knowing precisely how he was sprawled on the bed and how I could touch him without waking him up. And then, maybe even more than this, I knew his body. I learned every part of him again and again, sometimes discovering new things, sometimes rediscovering old ones with the same joy a kid discovers a new toy. There was a constellation of freckles Naruto had on his collarbones that were more visible in summer, when he would stay too much in the sun. There was a particular way his breath would hitch in his lungs when I touched him the way he liked. And then, there was a certain rhythm of his heart when he was falling asleep with me in his arms and a different rhythm when I was holding him. Finally, there were millions of shades of blue in his eyes, each one for every state of mind he was in in the day. Or at least I felt like that.

    The night before his inauguration Naruto was giddy and somehow restless, but at least I knew he was happy and it was all that mattered to me. The entire village was actually pretty excited – there were lamps everywhere, people were already in the “party hard” mode and the March weather was already too hot for that time of the year. We got to bed late, because it was impossible to make him stop talking, but his eyes were glimmering with excitement that I couldn’t say “no” to him. The truth is I couldn’t sleep either. Somehow Naruto’s happiness became mine, because I knew what that dream meant to him. I knew how much he fought for it and how much he deserved it.

    We woke up in the morning around 7 AM because I had to go and take his Hokage cloak from the embroidery artisan while he was heading for the venue where the inauguration would take place. The so called embroidery artisan was actually a very very old ( ~~hag~~ ) lady that was supposed to sew on Naruto’s cloak “Nanadaime” as in “the 7th Hokage”, but I couldn’t figure out how she was supposed to sew those words when her hands were trembling stronger than a motherfucking earthquake. However, when I got there the cloak was ready and there were no mistakes. Except the fact that the old lady asked me if I was Naruto’s wife (her eyes were bad too). Her apprentices were mortified, frozen in place and they hold their breaths until I told the old woman:

    “No, I’m his husband.”

    And, confused, the old woman retorded:

    “Is the Nanadaime a woman?’

    And I kept pushing the joke (which was not a joke, but I was in a strange mood):

    “No, he is just gay.”

    The earlier mentioned apprentices were even more purple now, although the entire village knew by then that the future Hokage was dating a man. The old lady replied:

    “Oh my dear. In the past they were only too soft, too grumpy, too young or perverted by vices. Now they are gay, whatever that means.”

    I took the cloak, greeted politely and walked away, considering that the damage for one day was enough.

    By the time I arrived to the venue, people of Konoha were already starting to gather in the square before the Hokage Building, all wearing white clothes. There was a buzz in the air and the warm spring wind brought the smell of early bloomed sakuras. I climbed the stairs of the venue two at times, not wanting to be the one held responsible if the event started late. Kakashi was scolding Naruto for something, but stopped when saw me:

    “Lucky you, you just came in time to tell your husband that he is not allowed to do anything stupid during the inauguration. No cursing, no “I told you motherfuckers I’ll become Hokage”, no “I love you Sas-keeee.”

    I raised one eyebrow:

    “That doesn’t sound like him, even if those things are attractive enough to be done.”

    “He is in a giddy mood. Did you give him something to smoke?”

     I gave Naruto his haori (the cloak) and crossed my arms:

    “Why everybody assumes that I am the one who would make Naruto take drugs, drink until he would get shitfaced or jump off a cliff?”

    Shikamaru, Tsunade, Kakashi and the ANBUs that were on the platform snorted in unison. I gave all of them an eye roll:

    “You say he is in a mood, but you are also in a mood.”

    “I’ve been singing all night lullabies, Sasuke. I am not in a mood. I am exhausted” he kinda whined.

    “But Kakashi-sensei, it’s your fault you got Sakura pregnant” Naruto observed with a grin. Kakashi gave him a look and turned to me:

    “This is why you should’ve killed him when you had the chance”.

    “I’m not doing your dirty job, old man” I retorted, winking at Naruto and rushing out of the platform and back into the square. Sakura was there, holding her daughter Chihiro in her arms. She was almost two years old by then with a hair light pink, almost white, and black eyes like Kakashi. The moment she saw me she started to waggle in her mother arms, indicating that she wanted “dada Sa-ke” to take her in his arms. I was “dada Sa-ke” and Naruto was “dada Ruto” and Sakura was completely annoyed everytime we would visit her because we spoiled the little girl too much and she was incorrigible when we were not there anymore. Sakura commented:

    “You want at dada Sa-ke? Of course you want, everyone is chasing him everywhere.”

    I smiled and took the girl in my arms, giving the little princess a poke on the forehead:

    “Gelous much?”

    Sakura sighted dramatically:

    “Oh no, I chased you too. I mean we are _all_ doomed.”

   The rest of Konoha 11 gathered around, talking only about the most important subject of the day. Kiba, who was annoying me every damn time he had the chance barked:

    “Yo, Sasuke. What if he jumps from up there?”

    Lee intervened:

    “Are you idiot? Why would he jump?”

    “Oh come on, he would definitely do something flashy like that” the dog boy added. I cleared my throat and declared, with my “cold asshole” voice:

    “If he jumps I hope he’ll fall on you.”

    The dog boy was ready to go full on that day, but a look from Hinata made him stop just in time – the ceremony was ready to begin. Chihiro started to fumble in my arms so I took it as a sign to give her back to Sakura.

    Kakashi came at the edge of the Hokage platform, his voice an echo in the square:

    “Welcome, people of Konoha. As you know today is a very important day. Today we change, today we hope. There is someone here that made us hope, even in the darkest times, even when everything was lost, even when Konoha was not on the map anymore.”

    I looked around. There was a sea of white clothes in the square and an ocean of heads raised to embrace the new Hokage. _Tsch_. No matter how much I had changed in the last years, there was one thing that was the same- my feelings for Konoha. If my feelings for Naruto grew from that raw emotion from years ago into something firm, the ones for Konoha stayed the same. To me they were a bunch of hypocrites. I knew Naruto wanted to change them and this was his dream, but let’s not for forget some facts.

    The same bunch of people that was in that day all giddy and excited for the new Hokage, had hated him when he was nothing more than a child. An orphan. Still, because of his demon he was alienated, he was left alone. Even by the ones who knew why he had that demon in himself. Even by the Third. And Naruto suffered more than he ever told in those days when people were staring and whispering bullshits about him. _Well, thank God Karma is a bitch_. The same demon that they despised in the past was the one that saved their asses after Pain destroyed everything they knew. And I knew Naruto saw that as a breaking point, as the ultimate possibility to start anew, but still. The Third used to say that every village has his darkness and Konoha had it too. My brother tortured himself with everything he did for the sake of that village.

    All, until he realized that there was something more important to him than Konoha. Me. Obito’s words came back to me: “ _Do you understand what that means? To him your life was more precious than the village_.” To me too there was something more precious than Konoha, something more precious than my clan. And that something was Naruto. My hand reached and touched the pendant that I was wearing around my neck since Naruto gave it to me, two months after I proposed. It was similar to the necklace I gave him, except the pendant, which had the symbol of the Uzumaki clan. It was his way of confirming his vow to me.

    So, back to Konoha, the village was still unimportant. I could forgive so many things, but not Konoha. I knew I would stay there for Naruto, I knew I would help Naruto, but never, not for a mere second I wouldn’t feel anything for the village. Or for that generation that let my brother die. When the last person from back then would be dead, I would know that would be the moment I could start to feel something for this entity called Konoha.

    Kakashi kept on going:

    “So, without further introduction, I, Kakashi Hatake, the Sixth Hokage, present you today the Seventh Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki.”

    Naruto came near him, wearing his haori and the well known hat, he lifted it above and smiled. In that moment the entire square bursted in applause and cheers. I stood there, lost in that ocean of people, watching the man that was standing above us all and remembering only the little brat. That brat that pissed me off, that brat kept his word. He became Hokage. He made his dream came true.

    “He did it, isn’t it?” Iruka said, putting his hand on my shoulder. I couldn’t figure out since when he had been standing there, but his eyes were full of emotion. I smiled:

    “Yeah. He did it.”

    Sakura put her hand on my other shoulder. She was crying and smiling in the same time.

    “The idiot did it, Sasuke. He, he made his dream came true and with that he gave us hope. For a better future.”

    I nodded. Was hope the only thing Naruto gave us that day? To me hope was the last thing he gave me. I’ve never chased him for hope. Not his hope was the thing that got me fired up every time. It was his ambition. His determination. It was that blaze in his azure eyes that said he won’t turn back on his words. It was those clenched fists that swore he will bring me back one day. Hope was fragile, sometimes naïve. To me Naruto was the definition of ambition. And love. And that is because I betrayed him. People of Konoha betrayed him too. Hope is something that gives you wings. You cannot betray hope or belief. But, you can betray love. And you can betray ambition, turning it into something destructive. So I was at fault, but at least I knew why I followed him. It seemed to me that Konoha was stlll millions miles away from understanding who Naruto Uzumaki was.

    “Aren’t you supposed to be up there?” Sakura asked, face amused because probably I was dosing off.

    “And you? Isn’t your old husband there too?” I provoked her.

    “He is not OLD!” she growled, then started to walk to the stairs. I followed her.

    Up on the platform, the entire Konoha 11 was cheering for Naruto. When he saw me he basically shoved Lee aside and walked straight to me. His eyes were fixed on mine, his emotion sending waves of electricity. I gave a stare to the tactless eyes that were on us. They turned away, although I knew they were still curious to hear my words. I reached for Naruto’s nape and brought his forehead closer to mine, in the same way Itachi did it years ago before he left me forever. He sighted at the touch and I leaned back just to take some air and then leaned in again to give him a peck on the forehead.

    “I’m proud of you” I whispered and he started crying, pulling me in a bear hug and hiding his tears in the crook of my neck. I knew people were watching, but fuck them. This was me and Naruto. This was about me and him. His dream and my betrayal and the way we worked those things out.

    The rest of the day was a succession of hugs and cheers for Naruto and taps on the back for me. People still thought that if they leaned in I would kill them. Tsch. Hypocrites. But whatever, I was happy for Naruto. His eyes were sparkling all day in that raw happiness that is so rare in a lifetime. Obviously, we met with the whole Konoha 11 (plus Kakashi) again in the evening at Yakiniku Q to celebrate. From all the genins from back then Shikamaru and Temari were my favourites. The others were too much for me. After we sat down at the table and ordered I asked Temari:

    “So, where is the Kazekage? Didn’t he promise he would be here?”

    Temari gave me a lopsided smile:

    “Too much paperwork. But he’ll come soon, in an official visit.”

    “Tsch, Naruto will pout.”

    She grinned, then nooded:

    “So you kinda know when he pouts now and when he doesn’t.”

    I shrugged:

    “You know when Shikamaru smokes and when not, right?’

    She turned completely to me, giving me a stare:

    “You, Uchiha boy, are a sass.”

    I raised one eyebrow:

    “I’ve always been.”

    “Yo, Sasuke” Shikamaru said “on Monday you have to come with Naruto to the office to sign the agreement for you ANBU thing.” 

    “Anbu?” Temari repeated.

    “Yeah” I explained “Naruto specifically asked me as his personal bodyguard and the head of the ANBU division under him.”

    “Sai will be triggered” Shikamaru hummed.

    I snorted and declared in my asshole voice:

    “I don’t care.”

    Naruto sat near me, after he greeted Tsunade, who was invited too to our party.

    “All good?” he asked, leaning in and giving me a peck on the cheek. I gave him a look.

    “Yeah, it’s fine. I was teasing Temari.”

    He turned to Temari:

    “Hope he wasn’t savage. He does that sometimes.”

    Temari waved a hand:

    “Oh no. He’s good.”

    “YO, Naruto!” Kiba barked from the other side of the table, “what are you going to do as a Hokage?”

    Naruto barked back:

    “It’s confidential, you idiot.”

    “You are turning into a secretive asshole, like your boyfriend” Kiba retorded.

    Naruto stood up and waved a fist at him in the air:

    “He’s my husband, you asshole.”

    The entire table started laughing. All night was like that. We talked about the old times, especially the time I declared I wanted to become Hokage. They made a whole scene out of that, positioning themselves in the middle of the restaurant the same way they were staying on the battlefield in the past. Kakashi took the role of playing “the Uchiha brat” back then and they all dramatically evoked the exact same moment of me “talking nonsense” as Naruto said with a sassy roll of his eyes.

    By 3 AM we were all a little buzzed, some of us completely shitfaced. Naruto was ok and on the way to the apartment he managed to sober up a bit. Although we drank enough, I prepared another bottle of red wine at home, so we could celebrate in private. He walked to the living room after he changed in pajamas and I followed him, bringing the glasses and the bottle of wine. We settled on the fluffly rug he bought for the living room and he brought his guitar. I poured the wine while he was fixing me with his blue stars:

    “I have something for you” he declared.

    “Yeah? Like?”

    “A song” he confessed, cheeks blushing a bit.

    “You wrote me a song?” I asked surprised.

    “Y-yeah..but I don’t know.. maybe it’ll be too sappy for you.”

    I ruffled his hair, which was then at the length he had after the war and I absolutely loved it:

    “Sing it, you moron. It’s just the two of us.”

    He grinned and tuned his guitar. Then he started plucking the strings and my world turned upside down again, the same way it turned everytime Naruto was playing:

“ _Something about you_

_It's like a addiction_

_Hit me with your best shot honey”_

     “Honey” was delivered with sparkling eyes and his sweet sun shining smile. His blue orbs didn’t shut anymore, they kept me in place. Naruto was usually singing with his eyes closed. He sang to me in those years many times and every time he closed his eyes. But now, his sapphires were focused on me.

“ _I've got no reason to doubt you_

_'Cause certain things hurt_

_And you're my only virtue_

_And I'm virtually yours_

_And you keep coming back, coming back again_

_Keep running round, running round, running round my head_

_And there's certain things that I adore_

_And there's certain things that I ignore_

_But I'm certain that I'm yours_

_Certain that I'm yours_

_Certain that I'm yours”_

    I am not a sappy person. Like really, but Naruto was still bringing new things in me, was still pushing buttons that I didn’t know were there. Now my stomach was filled with millions of butterflies again, although we had been married for two years and we passed all the stages in our relationship. Still, Naruto was making me feel everyday as we were in our first week again. I was again that boy from two years ago that sat on the living room floor, hearing Naruto singing the first time.

“ _There's something about you_

_It's when you get angry_

_You have me at your mercy”_

 

    I smirked at that lyric. Was he at my mercy or I had always been at his?

 

_“And you're like a shoulder to turn to_

_Cuz certain things mend us when we're hanging on for dear life_

_We held on so tight_

_And you keep coming back, coming back again_

_Keep running round, running round, running round my head_

_And there's certain things that I adore_

_And there's certain things that I ignore_

_But I'm certain that I'm yours_

_Certain that I'm yours (certain that I'm yours)_

_Certain that I'm yours_

_And there's certain things that I adore_

_And there's certain things that I ignore_

_But I'm certain that I'm yours_

_Certain that I'm yours (I adore you)_

_Certain that I'm yours (I adore you)_

_I adore you, I adore you_

_I adore you, I adore you_

_Certain that I'm yours”_

    When he finished I was done already. He analysed me, then declared:

    “You look ravishing. Did you like it?”

    No answers were needed. I grabbed him and crushed my lips into his. He chuckled, but didn’t pull away. He was certainly mine but what he didn’t know was that I was his in all the ways I’ve never thought I would belong to anyone. It’s unnecessary to say that we made love for the rest of the night until I declared, voice husky from exhaustion that he was better than any drug, any genjustu, any anything that would give you the burning pleasure of ecstasy.

 


	11. Epilogue – After the end

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys! Can't believe the last chapter of FSON is here. Please, let me get emotional..just a bit.  
> First of all, thank you all for being here every week and giving feedback (kudos/comments/bookmarking my story) and making this little adventure that was FSON so much better. I've always liked to write and at first this was just an experiment and it turned into something more, something special. ^_^ So, yeah, you kinda brought the confirmation (just a little one) that I'm not bad as a writer. :D  
> Secondly, thank you for loving Naruto and Sasuke in the way I built them both in this story. I know here and there they were very OOC, but I tried to give a more mature (and sappy) version of them. :D  
> Lastly, I don't want to promise anything, but I may or may not be writing a new fanfic that may or may not be related with this one...don't laugh, I'm trying to be subtle here :))) Just to be clear, I'll start posting that fanfic when I'll finish it, I personally don't like posting and writing in the same time because I tend to get stressed and my writing gets shitty and I want that one to be better than this one. So yeah, please be patient with me. :D  
> Good luck in everything you do, guys!  
> Warm hugs ^_^

_ 5 years later _

    Naruto’s azure eyes are focusing on the paper, he reads the clauses again and again. The silence is killing Chōjurō, the new Mizukage. I can sense his tension in the way his chakra is falling over him in waves the same way panic does. This document is important – it’s the official alliance between Konoha and Kirigakure after the war. Kinda ironic that they have the chance to sign this 10 years after the event. Like who would have thought that it’ll take so long to clear all that shit.

    5 years since Naruto’s dream came true..and just as I thought, he is a good leader. The moment he stepped in the Hokage office he took all his projects and started making changes. At first it was hard, but nothing is easy in life. He asked for my help here and there, especially on the military problems. I told him that for the rest he has to talk to Shikamaru. I didn’t want to get too involved and cause problems for Naruto.

    The first year was the most complicated one -  Naruto’s schedule was hectic and the amount of papers he had to sign, read or write was making him anxious and sometimes clumsy. As his bodyguard and the head of the ANBU’s under him I had to stay in his office nearly every day. There were some missions here and there when I had to leave Konoha, but not for more than two weeks. In that year I often thought that we will break up eventually. I don’t know why I thought that, because Naruto had never given me a real reason. I guess the problem was for me. Everything was unknown and life changing. New states of mind, that I thought I will never have, were hitting me in waves. Panic. Excitement. Melancholy and longing. However, Naruto never gave up. Even if sometimes I could see how tired he was, he was making efforts every evening to have dinner together and in weekends to relax. When the first year was over and the amount of papers started to decrease a bit, Shikamaru asked the old council to make a better schedule for Naruto. After three days of discussions they manage to share the responsabilities and to find support functions for the Hokage. Shikamaru took a part of the administrative problems, while Tsunade and Kakashi helped Naruto with the economic ones and diplomacy.

    The second year had also many events, two of them the most important for politics: alliance with Sunagakure and Kumogakure. It brought another unnatural amount of papers and discussions, but it ended well. The treaty with Suna was signed in Suna. Naruto managed to squeeze one free day for us between the official meetings, so we visited Gaara’s birth place and spent time with him. The Kazekage wasn’t surprised at all that Naruto and I were together. Although, he gave me a “speech” on the lines of “if you hurt him or betray him I’ll hunt you down and kill ya’”. He couldn’t do it…but I understood why he said that.

    With Kumo things were slightly different. When the treaty was signed A was still Raikage. I remember the moment he entered Naruto’s office with Killer B and saw me there, dressed up in ANBU. He observed me for a almost a minute, the silence making Naruto awkward. Then he declared in his gruff voice:

    “You have better eyes now, Uchiha and I don’t talk about the Sharingan.”

    I nodded:

    “My vision is better now too, Raikage-sama and I don’t talk about the Sharingan either.”

    He snorted and gave a side look to his brother:

    “Sanity is scary for him.”

    I cleared my throat:

     “Sanity is scary for every one, but I guess is not me the reason you’re here.”

    They sat down and started talking politics. I am pretty sure he figured there is something between Naruto and me, because it was summer and Naruto was wearing a shirt and when he leaned over the table to sign the papers the necklace with the Uchiha symbol started swinging in the air. But the Raikage didn’t say anything. Only Killer B gave me a bear hug before he left, although Naruto told him I might not like it as he did.

    In that year other events were also important: Sai and Ino finally got married in a party that almost kept on going for two days. Then, two months later Sakura’s second child was born – a boy with pink hair and teal eyes like hers that she decided to name Obito, in the memory of that Uchiha that destroyed and saved the world in the same time.

    In the third year we signed the treaty with Iwagakure too, visiting the Land of Earth. By that time Kurotsuchi was already Kage and after the meeting she got extremely interested in my marriage with Naruto. It was hard to avoid her questions…but yeah. Naruto mumbled something at a certain point, telling her that she is a bit nosy and she stopped. _Good job, Hokage-sama…_

    In that third year we also had to attend another wedding – Kiba and Hinata. Naruto was happy to see her finally commiting to someone that obviously loved her more than he ever did. Naruto and Hinata, me and Sakura, it never really worked. But that didn’t mean we didn’t care about them or we didn’t want to see them happy. It was just, well it was a bumpy road, but I guess things never work as easy as it did between me and Naruto. Scratch that. Things weren’t easy for us, but we learned, just like a kid learns how to walk. We fell, we got up again, we crawled a bit, we cried and then, without noticing, we started to take one step, then another and we started laughing because it was so easy and we’ve never thought it could be like that.

    Naruto takes a deep breath and turns to me, waking me up from my reverie. I fix him, thinking that he doesn’t look closer to 30 to me. He speaks, voice steady, with a hint of playfulness:

    “What do you think, Sasuke?”

    I frown:

    “Hokage-sama, you know I have no right to state my opinion on this matter”.

    He snickers, then ads:

    “I am asking you as someone who fought in the war and has all the rights to decide on this matter.”

    My eyes drift to the Mizukage and I find approval in there:

   “If Mizukage-sama still considers us an ally and if he thinks this alliance between the two countries is good for both, then there is no reason to doubt the document.”

    Naruto nods, then turns back to the paper and signs it:

    “Chōjurō, my friend, I can’t wait to see you in Konoha next year for the Five Kage Summit.”

    The Mizukage is taken aback a bit by the sudden shift in the mood, but he smiles and reaches for the hand Naruto gives him to shake. I know soon it’ll be time to go, so I check up the surroundings. Kiri is not the “Bloody Mist” anymore, but riots are not foreign, not even in times of peace. In the last years there were no major events in Konoha, but at the borders, here and there certain gangs did shit from time to time. Naruto let me to deal with them. Let’s just say it was a good decision. But Kiri was different. It took them longer to stabilize the village and to make people understand the idea of peace. And it took even longer to remove their old council and all the supporters. At least Naruto did it faster – one year after he became Hokage he managed to tell “bye-bye” to Koharu and Homura and to the network of old hags they created in Konoha. Now in the council were Kakashi, Tsunade, Shizune, Gai and Hinata’s father.

    I look through the window, searching for any sign of threat. Nothing. The sky is grey and the ocean breeze makes the mist twirl from time to time like smoke. I realize 7 years ago, in this exact same day I came back to Konoha, going straight to some blond idiot’s apartment. The mentioned idiot is grinning at me when I turn to him:

    “So, the rest of the day and tomorrow is free.”

    “So?” I tease him.

    “Sooooo, I was thinking maybe we could go to the beach. Eat some grilled squid?” he says, leaning in, must probably for a kiss. I push his face away:

    “Hokage-sama, I will escort you to your hotel room to change your clothes and then will discuss this personal matters” I warn him. The damn Mizukage is still in the room.

    He fights back:

     “Come on, Sasuke. He knows we are married and the meeting is over.”

     I sight exasperated and grab his hand, pulling him after me and out of the room. On the way out I politely greet the Mizukage.

   1 hour later we are on the damn beach. Naruto is proudly keeping his grilled squid in his hands. I already ate mine, but he insisted to eat his on the beach. Threads of steam are still dancing in the cold autumn air. He inhales the steam and a look of satisfaction appears on his face.

    “Naruto, you really have to keep your hands away when we are in formal settings. It’s not ok for you to flirt with me openly when other Kages are around.”

    He rips one big chunk of the squid and shoves it into his mouth, then he mumbles:

    “Don’t be stupid. I didn’t openly flirt with you. I just asked you if you are up for a _date_ , _afte_ r the official meeting is over.”

    I snort:

    “You are completely out of place. I don’t even know how I ended up with you.”

    He wiggles his eyebrows, then points my hands:

    “On your left hand you have a ring on your ring finger. If you take it out, on the interior it is engraved my name. You accepted it willingly. Mic drop.”

    And I know he has a ring on his left hand too and my name it’s engraved on it. I smirk remembering how we got those. One year after Naruto became Hokage (yeah that hectic first year) Kakashi started pestering me about the wedding. How is needed, how it’s not ok for the Hokage to stay with a man without being married and other bullshits. As if Naruto was some kind of man whore and without being married to me he would go and screw the entire Konoha. Long story short, Sakura, Tsunade and then the entire council insisted on the matter, so much that we ended up having a small wedding and exchanging vows and rings. Job done.

    He finishes his squid and a sound of satisfaction escapes his lips. Then his eyes are fixing the ocean. He looks as if he is far away now. I stare at his beautiful profile. The cold ocean breeze is ruffling his gold hair and the familiar scent of oranges hits me. I watch this man that changed everything that I knew, every story, every breath, every decision. I watch Naruto and think that maybe disaster is needed. Maybe sometimes everything needs to crumble and fall into pieces so you can move further. Maybe I would have never been able to love him this much if I wasn’t broken completely. And maybe he would have never admitted to himself that he loved me if I hadn’t tried so hard to sever our bond. Maybe light shines brighter and stronger after you went into the deepest pit of darkness. I know I did, but even in darkness, even when I was drunk in revenge and power, I have never felt the way I felt with Naruto. It is a reason why people always claim that good always wins. It’s not because good is always stronger than evil. Not exactly. Sometimes good is fragile and naïve. The power of good comes from the way it changes our feelings, because there is no bigger satisfaction then the one you feel when you know you stayed in the light.

    Naruto was the light at the end of the tunnel. He was the sun ray that first escapes the clouds after a storm. And it took me a lot of time to let myself go and tell him how much he meant to me. But when I finally did it, I couldn’t figure anymore where he ended and I started.

    He suddenly turns to me, blue eyes meeting mine. He gets closer and his fingers are tracing the contour of my jaw:

    “Are you ok, Sas? You look troubled.”

    “I was thinking.”

    “About?” he encourages, his fingers now letting featherlike touches on my cheek.

    “About you” I say “about how much I love you.”

    His eyes enlighten when I say that. I don’t say that as often as he does, but I always tell him that even if I don’t say it, it doesn’t mean I don’t feel it. He leans in until his lips meet mine. The touch is barely noticeable, until I grab the hem of his hoodie and pull him closer. He smells now like oranges and ocean breeze. I tangle my hands in his gold strands, then let them trace the line of his spine. I stop on his waist, embracing him. His hands are around my neck and his lips are chasing mine every time I try to break the kiss. A cold breeze makes him tremble:

    “Uhh” he mumbles in my mouth” up for a cup of tea and a bubble bath?”

    I chuckle:

    “Definitely.”

    “Will you ever refuse me?” he teases, giving me one final peck on the nose before he gets up and gives me a hand for support. I reach and admit:

    “At this point, probably never.”

    And I know he knows this is the truth. There are two things that I am certain about. One – the heart of a shinobi never changes. Two – I will always choose Naruto. In this life and in any other.

 

**THE END**

 

 


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